The Pittsburgh Pirates have lost one of their best players as they cling to hope of making a late charge to reach the MLB postseason.
The team announced Thursday that All-Star starter Braxton Ashcraft is headed to the 15-day injured list with right arm discomfort, retroactive to Sept. 7. Manager Don Kelly told reporters that his season is finished ahead of the series finale against the White Sox in Chicago, though he added that there's no indication of any structural issues.
Ashcraft is 14-6 with a 3.65 ERA and 173 strikeouts this season. He was selected to his first All-Star game in July alongside reigning Cy Young winner Paul Skenes. He's been particularly solid since Aug. 1, allowing no more than three runs in any of his seven starts and allowing no more than one
in four of those outings.
His performance has been a key building block of a late-season surge that's lifted the Pirates back to the .500 mark at 73-73 and on the fringes of wild card contention. The club has not had a winning season since 2018 and hasn't been to the playoffs since 2015 but has won seven of its past eight series to stay in the mix following a midseason swoon.
The Pirates enter action Thursday five games back of the San Diego Padres for the final wild card spot. Fangraphs pegs their odds of making up that deficit to reach the postseason at 1.3%.
Pitcher Antwone Kelly was promoted to the active roster in the corresponding roster move. He's allowed five runs in 8.1 innings of big-league action in 2026. He has a 4.93 ERA across 23 appearances - 17 of them starts - with Class AAA Indianapolis in the minors this season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pirates lose All-Star Braxton Ashcraft, major piece of late-season surge
