PIRATES

Back from the bereavement list, Braxton Ashcraft was greeted rudely by the Cardinals as St. Louis defeated the Pirates, 11-7, tonight at PNC Park.

It was the toughest start of his career, six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and two towering solo home runs — one to Nolan Gorman and another to Victor Scott II, whose blast reached the Allegheny River on a bounce.

"Not very good," Ashcraft said. "There's going to be good ones and bad ones, just really proud at the way that, get down real big early on and see the way this team fights and continues to fight. It's really encouraging it's exciting to be a part of but I have to be better there."

Ashcraft’s command unraveled in the fifth: Back-to-back walks, then an RBI double to Alec Burleson and a sacrifice fly to Jordan Walker, a sequence that brought an end to his night.

"Execution,” Ashcraft said. “I felt really good today and you hope the days you feel really good that you do really good but that's rare in this game, so the execution of pitches, especially two strike pitches, just has to be better and that's what got me into trouble today."

Tonight's performance notwithstanding, Ashcraft has been good in his five previous starts, allowing eight earned runs. 

"I think being stubborn in the process and going about my work and I know how to go about my work that I feel a little bit better about it but not too much," he said. "So again, really isolating on executing of pitches in certain situations and being comfortable with knowing that if I execute my pitches, generally good outcomes prevail and today wasn’t the case."