Another Game, Another First Big-League Win: Braxton Ashcraft Slams the Door

PITTSBURGH — For the second time in as many games, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a pitcher get his first big-league win.

Isaac Mattson was the winning pitcher in Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The 29-year-old entered the game in the seventh with a man on third base and nobody out after starter Andrew Heaney left with an injury.

Mattson escaped the jam to preserve the lead, and Henry Davis hit a home run to put the Pirates ahead by a run in the bottom of the inning.

On Sunday, the Pirates again won 2-1 to complete the sweep over the Phillies. Braxton Ashcraft was on the mound for the final four outs in relief of Paul Skenes. Ashcraft was credited with the win after Andrew McCutchen’s go-ahead single in the bottom of the eighth.

“Again, I get chills. Same thing with Mattson yesterday,” Kelly said on Mattson and Ashcraft getting their firsts. “For these guys to be able to step up in that moment, come in and fill up the strike zone. [Ashcraft] has shown the ability to do that with all his pitches too. I felt like everything looked sharp for him and he did a tremendous job.”

Kelly went to Ashcraft with two outs in the eighth inning and the score tied 1-1.

Ashcraft walked Brandon Marsh after getting squeezed but got Rafael Marchán to ground out to second base.

In the bottom of the eighth, McCutchen had a broken-bat flare fall into shallow right field. The speedy Oneil Cruz, who walked and stole second base, scored from second to put the Pirates ahead.

“That’s a big moment. They feel it,” Kelly said on Cruz scoring the winning run. “When you’re going through it and you feel the crowd, are playing really hard and doing well, just for him to stick with it today, he had some tough at-bats early but to stay with it, get a big walk there, stolen base and score the winning run was awesome.”

David Bednar and Dennis Santana, who have shared the closer role this season, had both pitched the first two games of the series.

Though at least Bednar was available, Kelly opted to stick with Ashcraft for the final three outs.

“I came out after the eighth and he said, ‘Stay locked in.’ Through my whole career, it’s not necessarily like, ‘You have the next inning’, it’s ‘I’m going until they tell me I can’t go anymore,’” Ashcraft explained. “So I didn’t come into that game thinking I was just going to throw one out. I came in thinking that I’m throwing four. So it wasn’t like a, ‘Hey, you got the ninth.’ It was ‘We ain’t taking the ball away from you.’

Things got a bit dicey for Ashcraft in the top of the ninth as the skies above PNC Park opened up with rain starting to fall.

Leadoff hitter Bryson Stott was retired on a nice play from first baseman Jared Triolo, but Trea Turner, who is among the fastest players in the sport, hit a one-out double to left. Kelly than signaled for an intentional walk of the power-hitting Kyle Schwarber.

The rookie right-hander showed poise and didn’t let things spiral. He got Alec Bohm to bounce into a game-ending double play.

“You go out there to get outs. The biggest piece to that is just making pitches,” Ashcraft said of his outing. “The eighth inning to [Brandon] Marsh, I thought I made two really good pitches, but that’s how the game goes.

“It’s part of the game and you go back and you make the pitch to the next guy, get an out, sit down for that ninth [inning] and hope that they give you that ball and for me it meant a lot, the trust that [Kelly] has in me to go out and get those outs and get them efficiently, it means a lot and it’s a lot for me to live up to in the situation that I’m in.”

Since Ashcraft was on the mound before the Pirates took their lead, he’ll get the ball and lineup card to commemorate his first big-league win.

He’s hoping the Pirates’ first winning streak of the season turns into more.

“It’s what we’ve been working for,” Ashcraft said. “It’s what we worked for going into spring training, through spring training. You want to win ball games and winning three in a row means a lot to me and all the guys in this clubhouse and I think that this is the start of something that creates a different feel in the clubhouse amongst everybody.”