Pirates' woes against left-handers surface again in 6-1 loss to Angels

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 5, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — There’s been some good for the Pirates lately, a strong stretch allowing them to creep back towards .500.

But on Saturday night, a season-long weakness showed itself again.

Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi threw six shutout innings, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-1 win at PNC Park. The Angels, who had lost 10 of 11 and own the majors’ worst record (54-88), had lost Kikuchi’s last eight starts.

The Pirates are now 14-31 against left-handed starters this year.

Right-hander Braxton Ashcraft largely matched Kikuchi through four innings, striking out eight in that time. He’d allowed just one run, the result of Wade Meckler’s bloop double and Moises Ballestero’s two-out grounder under Nick Gonzales’ glove.

But things slipped for Ashcraft in the fifth. He left four pitches down the middle of the plate, and the Angels capitalized for Josh Lowe’s homer, a Denzer Guzman single, a Zach Neto RBI single and Mike Trout’s single.

And with that, Ashcraft’s day was done. He threw just 67 pitches, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and nine strikeouts.

The Pirates failed to advance a runner against Kikuchi until the sixth inning, the result of a couple key strikeouts and two double play groundouts. They had two on and no outs in the sixth after Esmerlyn Valdez walked and Bryan Reynolds singled as part of a 3-for-3 day, but Oneil Cruz struck out, Nick Gonzales grounded into a fielder’s choice and Anaheim native Rafael Flores flew out.

Reynolds swatted an eighth-inning homer off right-hander Luke Murphy to avoid the shutout. It was his first homer since July 28.

It was over when …

Isaac Mattson was charged with three runs in the seventh, his second inning of relief.

Trout had an RBI single, scoring former Pirate Adam Frazier. Meckler added a two-run double off the wall in right-center to make it a 6-0 ballgame. Mattson threw 39 pitches in the outing.

On the mound

It was the second consecutive short start for Ashcraft, as he was pulled after 71 pitches on Sunday in St. Louis.

It could simply be a quick hook, as Ashcraft faded heavily in the fifth inning of both starts. The Angels had started to hit him hard after a largely dominant first four innings.

But given Ashcraft is up to 165 1/3 innings, far more than the career-high 119 he threw last year, the Pirates may finally be dialing back his innings.

At the plate

It was another bad night against lefties. The Pirates had at least one baserunner in each of Kikuchi’s six innings, but failed to capitalize on any of them.

The Pirates managed eight hits, more than they’d managed in wins on Thursday and Friday.

However, they went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. The Angels went 5 for 14.

Bucs bites

— Cruz stole second in the eighth inning for the 100th stolen base of his career. He tried to steal third on the next pitch and was thrown out.

— Yohan Ramirez threw two scoreless innings of relief. He hit Trout with a pitch in the ninth, then the Angels had Jose Siri pinch-run for Trout.

— The Pirates have won three consecutive series and nine consecutive interleague series at home, dating back to July 21-23, 2025. Both streaks are at risk on Sunday.

Up next

The Pirates and Angels will play for the series at 1:35 p.m. Sunday. Paul Skenes (9-11, 3.97 ERA) will be on the mound against right-hander Walbert Urena (9-9, 2.85).