PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Braxton Ashcraft struckout 10 and the Pirates bats mashed 15 hits and scored 11 runs in the Pirates 11-1 blowout win against the Mariners Wednesday night at PNC Park.
Seattle put together three straight singles to get ahead 1-0 in the top of the 1st. Ashcraft got out of the runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out jam by getting two strikeouts and a fly out to hold them to just the 1 run.
Bryan Reynolds extended his on base streak to 29 games with a single in the bottom of the 4th. He was erased at second base on a fielder's choice. Ryan O'Hearn blooped a hit into left field right in front of Randy Arozarena and it bounced over the wall down the foul line for a ground rule double. Endy Rodriguez ripped a double to right field to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. He came around and scored on a Tyler Callihan RBI double. Jake Mangum added another run with an RBI single to left field. Esmerlyn Valdez pinched hit for Spencer Horwitz and lined a single off the center field wall to extend Pittsburgh's lead to 5-1.
"Really good at bats, continuing to not press, grind it out. I think that again, we got the base hits with the guys on base. Endy had a huge one, O'Hearn multiple and a bunch in between that when we're scoring 11 runs, be able to get those especially off a tough guy like Woo that had a lot of success against us last year. Started off really strong, proud of our guys for sticking with the approach and finding a way to push runs across and get him out of the game," said Don Kelly.
Mariners starter Bryan Woo pitched 4 innings, gave up 5 runs on 6 hits, struckout 4 and walked 2.
Ashcraft retired 10 in a row to close out his night. He struck out 10 batters and threw 68 strikes out of the 86 pitches he threw. He is now tied with Paul Skenes as the strikeout leader with 107 punch outs.
"He's been really good for us and was again tonight. The way he was able to settle in after the first three guys got on, there's a run in. Just credit to him and being able to slow things down and do what he was able to do. Threw a ton of strikes, got punchouts, was efficient, only 86 pitches through 6 innings. He pitched great," said Kelly.
The Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7th and O'Hearn cashed in with a two run double to give Pittsburgh a 7-1 lead. Rodriguez singled home another run for this 3rd RBI of the night. Callihan hit a sacrifice fly to bring in O'Hearn and the Pirates went up 9-1. They added two more in the 8th with a Reynolds RBI double and O'Hearn RBI double.
"We did a really good job tonight with slowing it down, letting it come to us and barrelling up balls with guys in scoring position. I think when we get those big hits we score a lot of runs. Every player that's going up there wants to be the guy. Tonight we were going with more of a singles or doubles approach. Guys weren't going up there swinging for the fences and continued to stack at bats together 1 through 9," said Kelly.
Carmen Mlodzinski came into the game in the 7th for Ashcraft. He pitched 3 scoreless and got the save.
Injury Report
Spencer Horwitz was pulled in the bottom of the 5th inning due to left hamstring discomfort. Kelly said after the game there was no update on him. He said the injury happened on a double play ball.
Down on the farm
Konnor Griffin played in his first rehab game since being sidelined May 31st tonight for Altoona. He got hit by a pitch in his first at-bat. He wore a 96 mph fastball in his left arm but was able to shake it off and go 2 for 3 with a triple and a home run. He drove in 3 runs in Altoona's 8-4 win against Reading. He only had to field two balls on defense. He fielded a grounder in the first inning cleanly and committed an error in the 7th inning. He made up for it with his two-run homer.
Up Next
Game 3 of the series is Thursday afternoon at 12:35. Bubba Chandler (2-7, 4.62) will take the mound for the Pirates against Bryce Miller (3-1, 1.58) for the Mariners.
Bryan Reynolds extended his on base streak to 29 games with a single in the bottom of the 4th.
Bryan Reynolds extended his on base streak to 29 games with a single in the bottom of the 4th.
