6/24/26
(Pittsburgh, PA) Tuesday’s series opener between the Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates went about as many expected. It was a close, low-scoring game that saw the M’s come out on top with their power. Wednesday would be expected to match that as Seattle would look to breakout offensively while Pittsburgh would hope their own bats could come alive with runners on base instead of wasting opportunities.
Game two would feature a much more appealing pitching matchup between two of the teams better starters. For the Mariners, Bryan Woo would hope to build on his seven scoreless innings against Baltimore his last time out which righted the ship. Pittsburgh saw Braxton Ashcraft on the mound as he hoped to write the latest great chapter in his first year as a starter at the big league level.
Pirates 11, Mariners 1 (Game Two, June 24th)
Seattle came out very aggressive against Braxton Ashcraft on Wednesday night and it paid off in the 1st. J.P. Crawford singled on the fourth pitch of the game and two pitches later, the Mariners were on the board. Cal Raleigh singled down the right field line before Julio Rodríguez singled to left to score Crawford and make it 1-0. Randy Arozarena seemed to do more damage with a fly ball that just went foul, narrowly missing being a three-run home run. Instead, Ashcraft tiptoed out of trouble, escaping the 1st with only a run allowed.
A couple of doubles were wasted in the next two frames by the M’s. Early on, it looked like one run would be enough as Bryan Woo did not allow a hit in the first three innings on the mound. In the 4th, things unraveled. Bryan Reynolds led off the inning with a single and Nick Gonzales barely beat out a double play that would have erased that hit. A parachute fly ball just landed fair and turned into a ground-rule double for Ryan O’Hearn. Things continued to snowball as Endy Rodríguez doubled home two runs before scoring himself on a triple by Tyler Callihan. A single and stolen base by Jake Mangum and a single by Esmerlyn Valdez plated two more to make it 5-1 Pirates.
Michael Rucker kept Seattle in it with a couple of scoreless innings of relief, but Seattle could not figure out Braxton Ashcraft. The 26-year-old was very crafty himself and used Seattle’s aggression against them and was extremely accurate with everything he threw. Breaking balls landing just on the edges of the zone and enticing some chases, Ashcraft was brilliant after a slow start. He allowed just two hits after the first and ended up going six innings without allowing a walk and recorded double digit strikeouts for the second time in his career with 10.
Relief was not to be had for the M’s as the Seattle bullpen could not keep the M’s in it for long. Nick Davila allowed the first three Pirates to reach in the bottom of the 7th before Ryan O’Hearn drove in two with his 10th double of the year. Endy Rodríguez and Tyler Callihan each added another run as well to make it 9-1. RBI doubles by Bryan Reynolds and Ryan O’Hearn in the 8th added to the insult as the Pirates routed the Mariners in this one to even the series with an 11-1 drubbing.
Notable Performances
Mariners
- Julio Rodríguez- 2-4, RBI
- Josh Naylor- 2-4, 2B
- Bryan Woo (L, 6-6)- 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO
Pirates
- Ryan O’Hearn- 4-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R
- Braxton Ashcraft (W, 7-3)- 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO
- Endy Rodríguez- 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R, BB
What’s Next
Wednesday night was quite the letdown for the Seattle Mariners (41-40) as they failed to put away the series a bit early against a fellow playoff contender. Elsewhere in the AL West, Texas lost to Miami again to drop that series while Los Angeles beat Baltimore in extras and Houston downed Toronto to both earn series wins. The A’s lost 2-1 in heartbreaking fashion as the Giants hit two solo homers in the bottom of the 9th to walk them off and give San Francisco the series win.
The three-game set comes down to the finale on Thursday and it will be breakfast and baseball in the Pacific Northwest as the first pitch is scheduled for 9:35am. For the rubber game, Seattle will have Bryce Miller (3-1, 1.58 ERA) on the mound in a non-piggyback start. Miller will be the guy for the M’s as he has been outstanding since coming off the IL in May. Miller has allowed just seven runs in 40 innings so far this season while striking out 43. Pittsburgh will see their former top prospect Bubba Chandler (2-7, 4.62 ERA) try to figure some things out in the big leagues. Chandler has been better in June, but has not been able to pile up the strikeouts like the Pirates had hoped.
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