Braxton Ashcraft, you’re not that guy pal

Lost in the Aaron Nola disaster on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park was the Phillies absolutely toying with Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft early in the game by slowing him down with late time calls and deliberate step-outs from the batter’s box that had the 24-year-old throwing a hissy fit on the mound.

Both Schwarber and Harper called for time late and stepped out of the box while Ashcraft was mid-delivery or approaching his set position, and Braxton Ashcraft’s reaction was to visibly lose his composure on the mound in front of a packed Citizens Bank Park crowd that was enjoying every second of watching two veteran hitters live rent-free inside his head.

Braxton Ashcraft, you’re not that guy pal

Braxton Ashcroft is charming soft. Who’s this dude yelling at? 😂 pic.twitter.com/yJcq0w29Qk

— Drew Smith (@drewmsmith) June 30, 2026

It was absolutely beautiful to watch and honestly it worked because the Phillies jumped all over Ashcraft early and built a 5-0 lead in the first three innings with Turner, Marsh, and Harper all going deep while Ashcraft was still fuming about the time calls instead of focusing on executing his pitches.

Schwarber and Harper have been playing professional baseball for a combined 25-plus years and they know exactly how to get into Braxton Ashcraft’s head by disrupting his rhythm and forcing him to think about something other than the pitch he’s about to throw, and he walked right into the trap by letting his emotions take over instead of brushing it off and competing like a professional.

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Ashcraft is having a solid year, posting an 8-3 record, a 3.33 ERA, and a 1.08 WHIP across 17 starts and 102.2 innings this season.

No doubt about it, that’s legitimately impressive but you’re really going to stand on the mound at Citizens Bank Park in front of 43,000 people and throw a fit because Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are toying with you?

These are two of the most experienced and decorated hitters in the National League and they’ve been doing this to young pitchers since before Ashcraft was old enough to drive.

Show some respect and understand that when veterans are stepping out and calling for time against you, the appropriate response is to take a deep breath and throw the next pitch harder rather than having a visible meltdown that lets the entire stadium know you’ve already lost the mental battle before the at-bat is over.

Ashcraft ended up giving up five hits and five runs while striking out eight in six innings, which means the Phillies got to him early when his emotions were running hot and then he settled down and pitched well enough to keep the Pirates in the game after the damage was already done.

The eight strikeouts tell you the stuff was there all night and the five runs in the early innings tell you the mental lapse cost him because a pitcher with that kind of stuff should be able to limit damage even when the opposing hitters are trying to get under his skin, but Ashcraft couldn’t separate the gamesmanship from the competition and the Phillies exploited the gap between his talent and his maturity for five runs before he finally calmed down.

This post would have been a lot more fun to write if the Phillies won.

If the Phillies had actually held the 5-0 lead and won the game, but we all know what happened next because Aaron Nola took the five-run cushion that Schwarber and Harper’s gamesmanship helped create and handed it right back to the Pirates one hanging pitch at a time.

The Phillies’ veterans did their job by getting into Ashcraft’s head and building an early lead, and then the Phillies’ $172 million fourth starter did his job by making sure none of it mattered.

Talk about a mental midget though.

Braxton Ashcraft is pitching on the road for the Pittsburgh Pirates and you’re going to let Kyle Schwarber call for time and ruin your whole evening?

Wait until you face the Phillies in a playoff series when the crowd is ten times louder and the stakes are a hundred times higher and every hitter in the lineup is trying to mess with your timing in ways that are significantly more creative than a late step-out from the batter’s box.

If Braxton Ashcraft can’t handle the regular-season version of Schwarber and Harper gamesmanship without losing his composure, the postseason version of Citizens Bank Park is going to eat him alive.

Good stuff from the Phillies’ hitters. Terrible stuff from the Phillies’ fourth starter. The usual Monday night at the Bank.

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