Pirates and Brewers postponed due to rain Friday

It’s a best-case scenario after Ashcraft hit the injured list with arm discomfort last week. The 26-year-old righty should have a normal offseason and be ready for the start of spring training.

Ashcraft came out of Saturday’s start against the Angels complaining of a bit of discomfort in his pitching arm and at this stage of the season the Pirates weren’t going to take any chances. It’s likely that his 2026 season has come to a close. Antwone Kelly was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis in a corresponding move on Thursday to take his place on the Pirates’ active roster.

Proat was called up on Monday to serve as a reliever. However, he walked four batters in the ninth inning on Wednesday night, and Brewers manager Pat Murphy did not mince words when discussing the performance: “It’s unacceptable. You’ve got to throw the ball over the plate, or you can’t be a major league pitcher...You can’t let it snowball like that.” Sproat will continue to work on his command and approach in the minors, but there’s a good chance that we don’t see him up with the Brewers again this season.

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.