PIRATES

Braxton Ashcraft throws a pitch in the first inning of tonight's game at PNC Park.

Braxton Ashcraft hasn't had to face much adversity through his first five big-league starts. He's truly been that good in posting a 1.23 ERA, 0.68 WHIP and .158 batting average against in 19 innings as a starter entering tonight.

Ashcraft wasn't at his best against a high-powered Dodgers lineup on this particular night, though. His control was all over the place, as he matched a career high with four walks, and he found himself in constant danger early on. Still, he managed to navigate his way out of two bases-loaded jams en route to tossing three scoreless innings before turning things over to Mike Burrows and three other relievers in a shut-out effort. 

"Our job is to go out and put up zeroes in any way that we can, despite the situations we put ourselves in," Ashcraft said. "You have your back against the wall a lot in this game, it’s a game of failure. And understanding how to pull yourself out of that failure and help contribute to the team’s success, that's a big piece of being successful in the big leagues." 

The Dodgers loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning when a Freddie Freeman single was followed by back-to-back walks to Teoscar Hernandez and Alex Call. Ashcraft didn't falter, though. He dug deep and struck out Andy Pages and Alex Freeland before getting Kike Hernandez to fly out and end a 37-pitch inning. 

Ashcraft got the first two outs of the third before, again, running into trouble. A Dalton Rushing single was followed by walks to Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez before Call was retired 1-3 to halt another high-pressure situation. 

"Would have been nice to not be in them," Ashcraft said. "I kind of shot myself in the foot a lot tonight. It's something that I'm gonna have to go back, maybe tonight, and then tomorrow, through the rest of this rotation until I throw again and identify things that I've done in the past week, two weeks, in that body of work and understand what's kind of contributed to the build up of just spraying the ball. It's rewarding always to throw zeroes but in that fashion and only being able to throw three, that puts us in a tough position. Luckily we had Mike come in and pick us up there, and the rest of the guys, so, yeah, I mean, it's frustrating. But you know, we got the win. That's the most important thing.”

While he started his big-league career as a dependable bulk reliever, Ashcraft has managed to thrive in his transition back to being a starter at this level. He's now made six starts this season and has thrown three-plus innings and allowed one or fewer runs in each of them. In 25 total innings in the role, Ashcraft has allowed just three runs on 14 hits with seven walks and 26 strikeouts. 

He's just one of many young pitchers the Pirates are hoping to count on both now and in the future. 

"We have a lot of talent in the room," said Burrows, who threw three scoreless innings of his own tonight. "I think it's just everybody coming together and playing like we have been."