Ryan O’Hearn was ready to return from the injured list sooner than expected, then showed it with his first swing.
Serving as designated hitter, O’Hearn smacked a home run to get the Pittsburgh Pirates going on a day that began with bad news when rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin was placed on the 10-day injured list and right-handed pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski on the restricted list.
Braxton Ashcraft was efficient in recording 11 strikeouts without a walk in a quality start as the Pirates punctuated a three-game series sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 9-3 win Sunday afternoon before 19,358 at PNC Park.
“It was awesome,” said O’Hearn, who went 2 for 4. “You want to make an impact when you come back. I didn’t do a rehab assignment or anything, so I hadn’t seen live pitching. But I was pretty confident in my abilities. Been feeling good in the cage. It was cool to have it translate the first at-bat like that.”
Ashcraft (5-2) allowed five hits, including a two-run homer, and required only 80 pitches (60 strikes) to navigate six innings. He is the first Pirate and one of 11 MLB pitchers in the Modern Era (since 1901) with at least 11 strikeouts and no walks issued in an outing of 80 or fewer pitches. He became the 12th Pirates pitcher to post at least 11 strikeouts without a walk in the Modern Era, the first since Mitch Keller had 13 strikeouts at the Baltimore Orioles on May 14, 2023.
Ashcraft drew 51 swings, including 24 for whiffs, and nine called strikes while mixing his fastball with a slider, curveball and sinker.
“I mean, that’s kind of my M.O., just staying in the zone. Suffocating the zone with strikes,” Ashcraft said, crediting his catchers for their pitch calling this season. “Stick to the plan, I understand what’s going on with hitters and it allows me to kind of turn my brain off and focus on the task at hand. That’s throwing strikes and getting guys out of the zone. So being able to have the confidence in them back there, it’s really nice.”
After being placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right quadriceps May 17, O’Hearn was activated two weeks ahead of schedule. Griffin (right forearm strain) traded places with him, though the Pirates don’t believe it will require a long IL stint.
The Pirates placed Mlodzinski on the restricted list when he told them he wasn’t ready to pitch Sunday after being bumped from the starting rotation to the bullpen earlier in the week when Jared Jones returned.
“I think the guys know that Carmen is a competitor, that he is going to be here to help the team win,” Kelly said. “He’s shown that over the course of his career, and I’m fully confident that he’s going to do that.”
O’Hearn started the second inning by sending a 2-2 slider 354 feet and into the right-field seats for his eighth home run to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
“I asked him, ‘Is it that easy?’ ” Kelly said. “To go up in the first at-bat, stay on a breaking ball and drive it out to right. Then later on, to hit a fastball the other way. He’s a professional hitter. Great to have him back in the lineup.”
Oneil Cruz drew a walk and advanced to third when Jake Mangum singled to left, then scored on Jared Triolo’s single to right to make it a two-run advantage.
The Pirates padded their lead in the third when Zebby Matthews (1-3) hit Bryan Reynolds with a pitch and served up a 1-1 slider to Nick Gonzales for a 407-foot shot to center for his first home run of the season to make it 4-0. Gonzales had gone 412 at-bats without a homer, the second-longest drought in MLB behind Chandler Simpson (629).
“It’s just been a while,” Gonzales said. “For the last, I don’t know how many years, I’ve hit a home run in the first game or two of the season. Felt good to kind of just get that weight off my shoulder and just help the team too and score two runs. It’s nice.”
Ashcraft, meantime, recorded seven strikeouts through the first four innings and didn’t allow a runner past second base.
The Pirates provided the knockout punch in the five-run fifth. Spencer Horwitz hit a leadoff double then scored on Brandon Lowe’s single to right for a 5-0 lead. Reynolds drew a walk, and both runners advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Mike Paredes replaced Matthews to make his major-league debut, only to walk Gonzales to load the bases and Cruz to score Lowe and make it 6-0. Mangum hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Reynolds. After Triolo reached on a catcher’s interference call, Henry Davis lined a two-run single to left to score Gonzales and Cruz for a 9-0 lead.
Alex Jackson led off the sixth with a single, and Brooks Lee put the Twins on the scoreboard with two-run homer to right field to cut it to 9-2. Ashcraft rebounded to whiff Kody Clemens and Josh Bell to reach double-digit strikeouts for the first time in his career.
With concerns about managing Ashcraft’s workload — he leads the team with 74 2/3 innings pitched in 12 starts — and Mlodzinski not available, the bullpen was tested. The Pirates promoted righty Cam Sanders from Triple-A Indianapolis, and he replaced Ashcraft to toss a scoreless seventh. Brandan Bidois followed with a clean eighth inning but gave up a solo home run to Lee in the ninth that cut it to 9-3.
Kelly was proud of how the Pirates responded to the negative news with another victory, winning five games in the seven-game homestand.
“It was great,” Kelly said. “That’s something that, as a team, in the clubhouse, the guys have gone about it all year. We’re always going to deal with adversity. We’re always going to have tough times. You’re going to have good times, too. It’s how you stay somewhere in the middle during both of them, and not let yourself get too high when you’re really playing well and not getting too low when things are struggling. … I think our team has done a really good job of that this year.”