Braxton Ashcraft may be Pirates’ best hope of stabilizing disastrous second half

The Pittsburgh Pirates have spent most of the second half searching for something — anything — capable of stopping their season from spiraling completely out of control.

Braxton Ashcraft might be their best answer.

Ashcraft delivered the finest start of his young career Thursday afternoon in Miami, tossing a complete game in Pittsburgh’s 13-1 victory over the Marlins. He allowed only three hits, struck out 10 and walked one while needing an absurdly efficient 85 pitches to record all 27 outs.

Only a ninth-inning solo homer from Owen Caissie prevented Ashcraft from completing a Maddux — a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches.

It was the Pirates’ first complete game of the season and their first complete-game victory since Mitch Keller accomplished the feat in May 2024. Ashcraft also became just the third MLB pitcher this season to throw a nine-inning complete game on fewer than 100 pitches.

Historical significance aside, what matters more to the Pirates right now is what Ashcraft can give them over the final weeks of a season that has gone badly off course in a hurry. Pittsburgh has lost seven consecutive series and entered Thursday having dropped 17 of 25 games since the All-Star break.

Braxton Ashcraft looks like stabilizing presence Pirates desperately need after 85-pitch complete game

The Pirates' fall-off is due in part to the fact that a rotation that was expected to be the foundation of a playoff contender has instead become one of the reasons the Pirates are fighting to keep their season relevant.

Keller is done for the year because of an injury after posting a 5.29 ERA. Paul Skenes has endured the worst prolonged stretch of his career. Jared Jones and Bubba Chandler remain enormously talented but, like most young pitchers, have battled inconsistency.

Ashcraft earned an All-Star selection in his first season as a full-time major league starter and lowered his ERA to 3.88 with Thursday’s masterpiece. More importantly, he demonstrated the type of efficiency that can have ripple effects throughout an entire pitching staff.

The Pirates’ bullpen has been asked to clean up far too many short starts this season. Just the day before Ashcraft's complete game, Carmen Mlodzinski couldn't even make it through a third inning before getting tagged for four runs on five hits. But when a starter works nine innings, or even routinely providing six or seven quality innings, it can help Pittsburgh better manage a relief corps that has been stretched and exposed throughout the year.

One dominant outing obviously doesn't erase the Pirates’ second-half collapse. Ashcraft can't fix Skenes, bring Keller back, make an inconsistent offense suddenly reliable or undo all the games Pittsburgh let slip away earlier this summer. But every struggling team needs a pitcher capable of taking the ball every fifth day and giving everyone else a chance to reset.

For a Pirates team desperately trying to stop a disappointing season from becoming an outright disaster, Ashcraft is beginning to look like that guy.

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