Pirates right-hander Braxton Ashcraft pitches 3 scoreless innings in his major league debut

PHOENIX — Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Braxton Ashcraft pitched three scoreless innings in his major league debut on Monday.

Ashcraft, one of the team’s top prospects, was recalled before Pittsburgh’s 5-0 loss at Arizona. Right-hander Isaac Mattson was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.

The 25-year-old Ashcraft entered after Andrew Heaney was tagged for five runs and eight hits in five innings. He fanned his first batter, Tim Tawa, for his first career strikeout.

He allowed two hits and walked one. He threw 50 pitches, 32 for strikes.

“It’s the same game,” Ashcraft said. “It’s easy to get outside of yourself and it’s easy to look at the big picture and understand, hey, like this is the goal, it’s the goal to be in the big leagues. But for me, my goal isn’t just being in the big leagues. It’s staying here.”

Ashcraft’s performance was a bright spot for a last-place Pittsburgh team that dropped to 7-17 in May. The Pirates finished with six hits in the opener of a six-game trip.

Ashcraft was selected by Pittsburgh in the second round of the 2018 amateur draft. He was 3-3 with a 5.03 ERA in 10 starts for Indianapolis this season, striking out 56 in 48 1/3 innings.

“I’ve learned from an early age that if you’re not team-oriented, you’re not going to have success,” he said. “So rooting for yourself, rooting for your team and hoping everybody does well is a big piece of that.”

Manager Don Kelly told reporters in Arizona that Ashcraft would work out of the bullpen with the Pirates.

Mattson has no record and a 3.00 ERA in three games with Pittsburgh this year.

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