Braxton Ashcraft tosses complete game, Pirates avoid sweep, Sterling strikes out 11
Pirates avoid getting swept on the road as Ashcraft tosses complete game
Behind a complete game from Braxton Ashcraft, the Pittsburgh Pirates not only avoided a sweep at the hands of the Miami Marlins, but also snapped a three-game losing streak on Thursday.
Ashcraft was magnificent, picking up his 12th win of the season while striking out 10 batters and needing just 85 pitches to get through the outing.
The lone blemish came on an Owen Caissie home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, when the game was already well out of hand.
While it took them until the third and final game of the series, the bats finally came alive, picking up 16 hits—four of which were home runs.
Jared Triolo, Rafael Flores (twice), and Jacob Gonzalez all went deep for the Pirates. With their quick three-game road trip over, they will now return home for series against the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers.
Before Thursday’s game, the Pittsburgh Pirates placed catcher Endy Rodriguez on the 10-day injured list. Rodriguez hasn’t played in a game since August 7th against the New York Mets.
In 46 games this season, Rodriguez is hitting .267/.373/.467 with seven home runs, 20 RBI, and six stolen bases.
To take his spot on the roster, the Pirates recalled infielder Jack Brannigan from Triple-A Indianapolis.
The Pirates also swapped pitchers, sending Evan Sisk to the minors in exchange for Isaac Mattson.
Levi Sterling struck out a career-high and a Bradenton Marauders’ franchise-best 11 strikeouts over six innings pitched on Thursday. His last start wasn’t ideal; he needed 38 pitches to make it out of the first inning before getting pulled from the game.
He was dialed in on Thursday, throwing over 40% sliders on the night, while opting for the four-seam as his primary fastball.
Still just 19, Sterling has a 4.31 ERA this season, with 112 strikeouts over 96 innings pitched.
C Jack Scanlon assigned to Bradenton Marauders
RHP Kyle Calzadiaz assigned to Bradenton Marauders from FCL Pirates
RHP Michael Gibson assigned to Bradenton Marauders from FCL Pirates
RHP Ronaldo Gallo assigned to Greensboro Grasshoppers from Bradenton Marauders
Pittsburgh Pirates optioned LHP Evan Sisk to Indianapolis Indians
Pittsburgh Pirates recalled RHP Isaac Mattson from Indianapolis Indians
Pittsburgh Pirates recalled SS Jack Brannigan from Indianapolis Indians
RHP Andrew Moore assigned to Altoona Curve from Indianapolis Indians
Top Exit Velocity
Jacob Gonzalez - BRD - 108.6 mph - Home Run
Eddie King Jr. - BRD - 108.2 mph - Double Play
Johnathan Rodriguez - IND - 106.9 mph - Single
Rafael Flores - IND - 106.3 mph - Home Run
Nick Cimillo - BRD - 106 mph - Flyout
Top Pitch Velocity
Braxton Ashcraft - PIT - 99.2 mph
Braxton Ashcraft - PIT - 99 mph
Braxton Ashcraft - PIT - 98.6 mph
Braxton Ashcraft - PIT - 98.5 mph
Braxton Ashcraft - PIT - 98.4 mph
Most Whiffs
Levi Sterling - BRD - 18
Braxton Ashcraft - PIT - 10
Yeraldo Salcedo - BRD - 8
Jack Anker - GBO - 8
Nick Dombkowski - ALT - 7
Brandon Neeck - IND - 7
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Bucs on Deck: Pittsburgh Pirates 2026 Midseason Update
The Pittsburgh Pirates have seen a major shift at the top of their system, having their two best prospects graduate to the majors. That would usually leave most organizations searching for talent, but the Pirates still have one of the top prospects in the game, Seth Hernandez, who tops the Bucs on Deck 2026 midseason update.
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Indianapolis Indians - 3 vs Nashville Sounds - 2
Top Hitter - Nick Yorke: 1-4, R, RBI, 2B
Top Pitcher - Thomas Harrington: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, K
Altoona Curve - 2 vs Akron RubberDucks - 4
Top Hitter - Robert Hassell III: 1-3, R, 2 BB, 2B
Top Pitcher - Cristhian Tortosa: 2 IP, H, ER, BB, 4 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 10 vs Winston-Salem Dash - 9
Top Hitter - Edward Florentino: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, BB, HR, game-tying home run in the ninth
Top Pitcher - Jack Anker: 6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Bradenton Marauders - 0 vs Lakeland Flying Tigers - 3
Top Hitter - Canon Reeder: 2-4
Top Pitcher - Levi Sterling: 6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 11 K
DSL Pirates Black - 1 vs DSL Giants Orange
Top Hitter - Jhoendris Santos: 2-4, R
Top Pitcher - Marlon Quintana: 3.2 IP, H, 3 BB, 4 K
DSL Pirates Gold - 0 vs DSL Cubs Blue - 1
Top Hitter - Fernando Triana: 1-2, BB, SB
Top Pitcher - Yorgenson Artigas: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, K
Great deep dive by Eno in The Athletic today about Skenes. Talks about his drop in velo (and mentions that he is throwing a bit more across his body this year) and drop in movement in his pitches, mentioning his reliance on his fastball compared to other pitchers that have had drops in their stuff+ this year (like Alcantra).
I especially appreciated this part of the article, though: "For the season, he has the ninth-best strikeout-minus-walk rate, an enormously powerful predictive stat. He sits between Jacob deGrom and Cristopher Sánchez on that list. He gets there with the eight-best strikeout rate, just behind Zack Wheeler and some dude named Tarik Skubal. And this skill has continued through the slump: he's ninth in K-BB since June began, he's 14th since July began, and in his worst stretch over the last 30 days, he's 27th. None of those numbers predict a middling ERA.
The advanced ERA estimators agree. His xERA, which looks at the quality of contact along with the strikeouts and walks, thinks he should have a 3.11 ERA. His SIERA, which does something similar and usually does well in projection battles, says he should have a 3.10 ERA. Last year, when he had a 1.97 ERA, his SIERA said he should have had a 3.10 ERA. In terms of component results, not much has changed. The defense behind him has been a little worse — only 10 pitchers have had worse defense behind him this year — and the luck has been a little worse."
In other words, he doesn't seem to be overly concerned by Skenes performance. Velo drop is concerning but seems to suggest a bit more a change in mechanics than injury. And the overall performance might be more bad luck and bad defense than anything larger.
Looking at the Pipeline top 30, after Seth the next pitcher is Levi Sterling at *12th.* I certainly don't take these things as gospel, but a year ago I didn't think I'd be saying they really need to add some pitching prospects. (Not a knock on Sterling, btw. He's been really good despite a mediocre ERA.)