Ashcraft Deals a Complete Game Gem in 13-1 Demolition

Braxton Ashcraft went the distance — 9.0 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 10 strikeouts — while Pittsburgh's offense erupted for 13 runs in a complete dismantling of Miami on August 13. Rafael Flores Jr. hit two home runs and drove in six, but the story of the night was how thoroughly Pittsburgh controlled every dimension of this game.

It started with a balk. Then another one. Pittsburgh's fifth-inning rally opened on a pair of Miami miscues before Jared Triolo put the exclamation point on the frame with a 395-foot shot to right center — a ball that survived an umpire review and sent Miami's win probability tumbling from 40% to 25%. That swing was the moment the game effectively ended, even if the scoreboard only read 2-0. Triolo finished 3-for-4 with a homer, 3 RBI, and 3 runs scored. He was everywhere.

Miami's Tyler Phillips held things together through five-plus innings, but Pittsburgh kept coming in the sixth. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, and Triolo singled to left to plate two more, pushing the lead to 5-0. Then the eighth inning arrived and Flores Jr. took over. His first homer — a 384-foot shot to left — scored Mangum and Triolo and made it 8-0. In the ninth, Jacob Gonzalez went deep to right (396 feet) to score Valdez and push it to 10. Then Flores Jr. hit his second homer of the night, 399 feet to left, again scoring Mangum and Triolo, and the final was 13-0 before Owen Caissie's 402-foot solo shot to center gave Miami its lone run and prevented the shutout. Flores Jr. finished 2-for-5 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a homer and 2 RBI. Jake Mangum scored three times. This was a collective offensive statement.

Ashcraft's performance looks like the kind of outing that defines a pitcher's season. Nine innings, three hits, one walk, ten strikeouts — he was in command from the first pitch and never wavered, even as his offense was still piling on in the ninth. Miami's bullpen absorbed the late damage: Cade Gibson allowed 1 earned run in 1.2 innings, and John King surrendered 3 earned runs in just 0.2 innings as Pittsburgh twisted the knife. Pittsburgh appears to be a team operating at a different level right now — the offense manufactured runs in multiple ways, the starting pitcher was untouchable, and the margin of 12 runs flatters neither side's imagination. This was a thorough, professional beating.