Braxton Ashcraft delivered the best start of his career on Thursday, firing a complete-game three-hitter with 10 strikeouts as the Pittsburgh Pirates routed the Miami Marlins 13-1 at loanDepot Park. The right-hander needed just 85 pitches to finish the job, becoming the first Pirate to throw a nine-inning complete game since Mitch Keller in 2024 and the first to do it in under 100 pitches since Ivan Nova in 2017.
Ashcraft entered the afternoon in the middle of a rough patch, having allowed 22 runs across his previous five starts as his ERA climbed to 4.08. The 24-year-old flipped the script against Miami, retiring batter after batter with a mix of efficiency and command that had been missing for over a month. He walked just one hitter and struck out 10, improving to 12-5 on the season and turning in his third double-digit strikeout performance of the year.
A Historic Line for Pittsburgh
The numbers tell the story of a near-perfect afternoon. Ashcraft faced the minimum through eight innings, aided by three double plays and a caught stealing, before Owen Caissie led off the ninth with a home run that spoiled the shutout bid. Even with that blemish, Ashcraft closed the book with a final line of nine innings, three hits, one earned run, one walk and 10 strikeouts on 85 pitches, 64 of them for strikes. It marked his first career complete game, and the sub-100-pitch efficiency put him in rare company for a franchise that hadn’t seen that kind of economy on the mound in nearly a decade.
Pittsburgh’s offense made sure Ashcraft’s gem wasn’t wasted. Rafael Flores put on a show of his own, going 2-for-5 with a pair of three-run homers and six RBI, while Jared Triolo and Jacob Gonzalez also connected for long balls. Jake Mangum added a 3-for-4 day with a triple, a double and a single, snapping an 0-for-8 skid over the previous two games against Miami. The 13-1 final snapped a three-game losing streak for the Pirates, who had dropped consecutive games to the Marlins earlier in the series before erupting in the finale.
What It Means Going Forward
The win nudged Pittsburgh to 59-64, still fifth in the NL Central and well outside any realistic playoff picture at 16.5 games back with a spot in the mid-40s among division rivals. With the postseason essentially out of reach, performances like Ashcraft’s on Thursday take on added significance for a franchise trying to evaluate its young pitching core heading into the stretch run and beyond. If bettors are eyeing the Pirates’ next outings, checking the latest MLB odds is a good starting point before the rotation takes the mound again.
For a pitcher who had shown flashes of dominance in stretches, including a run of 43 strikeouts against just 12 walks over one recent seven-start stretch, Thursday represented the ceiling coming together in a single afternoon. Ashcraft’s command, which had wavered during his midseason slump, looked sharp from the opening frame, and the Pirates’ defense backed him up at every turn. With Pittsburgh’s season winding toward evaluation mode, a start like this offers a reason for optimism about what the rotation could look like next year, even as the current campaign fades from contention.
