Ashcraft Tosses Another Gem, Pirates Record 20 Hits in Rout of Giants
Photo provided by Matt Lynch Braxton Ashcraft pitched another gem and everyone contributed offensively for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a dominant 13-3 win over the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on Saturday night. Scoring Plays Top 5th, 2-0 PIT: Joey Bart led off the inning with an infield single, which knocked Landen Roupp (5-3) out of the game. In came Ryan Borucki, who gave up a Brandon Lowe sac fly and a Bryan Reynolds RBI single to left.
Bottom 5th, 2-1 PIT: Bryce Eldridge ambushed the first pitch of the inning from Braxton Ashcraft (2-2) for his first-career home run, a solo shot to right field. Top 6th, 4-1 PIT: Konnor Griffin looped an RBI single into center field against Ryan Walker and scored from second base on a Bart base hit to right to put the Pirates (22-18) up by three. Top 7th, 10-1 PIT: Spencer Horwitz was credited with an RBI double after it looked like Giants left fielder Heliot Ramos lost a ball in the lights.
Griffin followed with a sac fly and Bart knocked JT Brubaker out of the game with an RBI single. Later in the inning, Lowe hit a two-run triple to right-center off Gregory Santos and scored on O’Hearn’s infield single. Top 9th, 13-1 PIT : The Pirates tacked on three more against position player Christian Koss in the ninth.
Lowe doubled to left to score a run, Jared Triolo recorded an RBI single and O’Hearn bounced into a double-play with a man on third. Bottom 9th, 13-3 PIT: Cam Sanders struggled with command and walked home a run and Eric Haase delivered a two-out RBI single. Key Moments The Giants (15-24) had runners on the corners with one out against Braxton Ashcraft in the sixth inning but the right-hander struck out Rafael Devers and got Bryce Eldridge to fly out to the track in left field.
Player of the Game Braxton Ashcraft completed seven innings for the third time in his last four starts. He had not pitched seven innings in his career prior to doing so for the first time on April 22. Stat to Know The Pirates have won at least 22 of their first 40 games for only the seventh time since 1990 and the first time since 2018 (23-17).