A day after emptying their bullpen against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates turned to a pair of pitchers who had just rejoined the club to get them through the second game of the series.
Right-hander Braxton Ashcraft returned from bereavement/family medical emergency leave to make his sixth start, while lefty Hunter Barco was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis to provide bulk relief, only to endure a travel nightmare for a last-minute arrival.
The Cardinals took advantage by pounding the Pirates for an 11-7 win Tuesday night before 8,758 at PNC Park. It was the third consecutive loss for the Pirates (16-14), who surrendered double-digit runs for the second time this season. The Cardinals (16-13) move a half-game ahead of them and into third place in National League Central standings.
Ashcraft (1-2) recorded seven strikeouts but allowed six runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings, including a pair of home runs.
The first came courtesy of Nolan Gorman, who smacked a first-pitch fastball 413 feet into the right-field seats for a leadoff home run in the second inning to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Victor Scott II sent a 1-2 curveball 415 feet to right for his first homer of the season to start the third, giving the Cardinals a 2-0 edge.
The ball bounced into the Allegheny River, marking the 85th time in stadium history a ball reached the river and making Scott the 53rd player to do so.
JJ Wetherholt followed with a double to left-center, advanced to third on Ivan Herrera’s fly out to right and scored on Jordan Walker’s two-out single to right for a 3-0 lead.
“It seemed like fastball command at the end wasn’t there,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Early on, had the fastball and maybe struggled to put them away with the off-speed. And they put some good swings on them, too.”
Ashcraft got into trouble in the fifth when he walked Wetherholt and Ivan Herrera on four pitches each. Alec Burleson drove in Wetherholt with a ground-rule double that bounced over the fence in left-center for a 4-0 lead, and Jordan Walker followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score Herrera to make it 5-0.
Ashcraft wasn’t pleased with his pitch execution, especially with two strikes. It was tough to swallow after the 4-2 loss Monday night, when the Pirates pitched 6 2/3 perfect innings before Dennis Santana surrendered four runs in the ninth inning.
“Sucks that I put them in that situation, with a game like yesterday, using a lot of arms. It’s imperative that we as starters pick the rest of the team up,” Ashcraft said. “I let everybody down in that aspect today.”
Barco, a top-100 prospect who had a 6.43 ERA in seven appearances this season, dealt with a five-hour delay in Atlanta between flights. He didn’t land in Pittsburgh until 6:15 p.m., then arrived at the ballpark after the game had started.
“It’s getting ready the entire flight here, sitting at the airport going over at bats and hitters in my head,” Barco said. “I haven’t done anything like that before, but it’s whatever you got to do.”
Barco replaced Ashcraft and gave up another sacrifice fly to Gorman to score Burleson as the Cardinals took a six-run advantage. Barco allowed five runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts but saved the bullpen by throwing 84 pitches in 4 2/3 innings.
“I thought he did a fantastic job,” Kelly said. “For him to land at 6:15 and do what he did tonight saved the bullpen a lot. At the beginning, kept it within reach, make it 6-3, then they were able to tack on some. But I thought he did a really great job under tough circumstances.”
Oneil Cruz put the Pirates on the scoreboard in the sixth, drilling Leahy’s 2-0 fastball 414 feet to straightaway center for his ninth home run to cut it to 6-1. Bryan Reynolds hit a one-out single to right, setting the stage for Ryan O’Hearn to smash a two-run shot 398 feet to right-center for his fifth home run and slash the deficit to 6-3.
Nick Gonzales followed by lining a single to center to extend his hitting streak to nine games, but Spencer Horwitz grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Cardinals added to their advantage in the seventh, starting with Herrera drawing another four-pitch walk and Burleson getting a free pass from Barco. Walker singled to score Herrera, Burleson scored on Gorman’s fielder’s choice and Masyn Winn singled to score Walker for a 9-3 lead.
Barco hit Wetherholt with a pitch, then gave up back-to-back doubles to Herrera and Burleson — the latter driving in two runs — as the Cardinals increased their lead to 11-3 in the eighth.
Kelly was proud of how the Pirates continued to battle, as the offense pounded out 13 hits, including three homers. They rallied for three runs off lefty Justin Bruihl in the bottom of the eighth. Cruz hit a leadoff single, reached second when Reynolds drew a four-pitch walk and scored on an O’Hearn single to right to make it 11-4. After a passed ball by Pages put both runners in scoring position, Gonzales drove in two runs with a single to left-center to cut it to 11-6.
Konnor Griffin started the ninth by crushing a 1-1 sinker by Matt Svanson 403 feet to right-center for his second career home run, making it 11-7, but Svanson responded by striking out the next three batters to end it.
“I know that silver linings aren’t worth anything, and we didn’t get the W,” Kelly said, “the offense, as far as competing and continuing to grind out — Oneil with the homer, O’Hearn had one, Konnor Griffin there at the end — and put some good swings on the ball.”