Pirates and Brewers postponed due to rain Friday

Sproat will return in a relief role, but with Brewers manager Pat Murphy also considering moving Kyle Harrison into the bullpen, there’s a chance Sproat and Harrison could form some sort of tandem. In Triple-A, it seems like the Brewers have significantly dialed back Sproat’s cutter usage, leaning into the four-seamer as his primary fastball and upping the usage of all his secondaries. We’ll see if the results improve at the big league level.

Ashcraft breezed through three scoreless innings before the Angels got to him for a run on two hits in the fourth. He ran into more trouble in the fifth, giving up a solo homer to Josh Lowe and a second run in the frame on a pair of hits. Ashcraft would finish out the fifth and end his day at 67 pitches with nine strikeouts. The 67 pitches were a season-low for him, though he’s already surpassed last season’s innings total by nearly 50. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a 3.65 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and a 173/35 K/BB ratio across 165 1/3 innings into a start against the Cubs in Chicago on Friday.

Ashcraft was yanked after 71 pitches today, which could be a sign that the Pirates are beginning to monitor his workload. He’s at 160 1/3 innings for the season, which is 42 more than his previous career high from last year. Because of that, he probably won’t be allowed to put in a full September. He’s due to make his next start Saturday against the Angels.

Ashcraft appeared to get through six scoreless, only to lose the shutout on a balk. He then left with a one-run lead that failed to hold up. It’s unclear how many more starts Ashcraft, who has now thrown 39 more innings than his previous career high, will make with the Pirates nearly out of contention at this point, but he’s still thriving, having allowed exactly one run in three straight starts. He’s in line to face the Cardinals on Sunday, but the Pirates have Thursday and Monday off if they want to give him some extra time.

Ashcraft gave up five hits, walked none and struck out four. He improved to 13-5 with the win. Ashcraft allowed a solo home run to Brett Callahan in the fifth inning, but otherwise held the Tigers scoreless over eight innings. He’s allowed two earned runs in 17 innings with 14 strikeouts and one walk over his last two starts. Ashcraft has a 3.68 ERA. He’s lined up to face the Padres on the road next Monday.

It was a shutout until the ninth, when Owen Caissie hit one out to cut the lead to 13-1. Ashcraft had allowed 21 runs in his last five starts entering today, along with seven homers, so this qualifies as a bit of a course correction. Ashcraft generated a 30 percent whiff rate on 33 swings, with both the curveball and slider drawing misses while he touched 99.2 mph on the gun with his fastball. Ashcraft draws the Tigers in his next start, hopefully he can keep this form going.

Ashcraft is now 15 innings over his previous career high from last year, and while it hasn’t taken a toll on his velocity at all, his results are suffering; he’s given up 22 earned runs over 24 innings in his last five starts, taking his ERA from 3.24 to 4.08. There was nothing illegitimate about his first-half numbers, but it could be a bumpy ride here in August and September. He’ll face the Marlins next week.

Sproat loses his spot in Milwaukee’s rotation with Kyle Harrison back from the injured list in addition to starter Dustin May coming over from the Cardinals at the trade deadline. The writing was on the wall after he surrendered four runs over three innings against the Pirates on Monday night. There’s a chance he’s back as a multi-inning reliever, where his stuff would presumably play up in shorter bursts. There was some thought from scouts and evaluators during his minor-league career that he would excel in a relief role.

Sproat was cruising along in the early stages of this one before running into trouble with two outs in the third inning when he gave up back-to-back hits and walked Esmerlyn Valdez to load the bases. He promptly surrendered a bases-clearing double to ensuing batter Spencer Horwitz that accounted for nearly all of the damage against him. He was lifted in the fourth after giving up a leadoff single and uncorking a couple wild pitches. He struck out four and also issued two walks. He’s consistently struggled to work deep into outings and holds a lackluster 5.27 ERA across 95 2/3 innings. He’s in line to face the Twins to wrap up a two-start week on Saturday, but that’s hardly a lock with Dustin May coming over in a trade and Kyle Harrison (forearm) coming off the injured list this week.

Ashcraft gave up two hits, walked one and struck out five. He improved to 11-4 with the win. Ashcraft didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and the only run he allowed came on a solo home run by Jose Trevino in the fifth inning. Ashcraft has a 3.98 ERA. He’s lined up to face the Brewers on the road on Thursday.