Reds rookie Graham Ashcraft carried the momentum of an impressive seven starts at Triple-A Louisville into his first Major League start, pitching 4 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs on four hits with two walks, one hit-by-pitch and three strikeouts on Sunday against the Blue Jays in Toronto.
Ashcraft, ranked No. 8 by MLB.com among the Reds' top prospects, threw 76 pitches - 43 for strikes - and faced 21 batters.
"I don't particularly care for it," Bally Sports Ohio color analyst Sam LeCure said of the Reds' decision to remove Ashcraft with one out in the 5th inning. "You've got a groundball specialist type in, and you need a groundball. Tony (Santillan) hasn't been great with inherited runners."
Santillan did get out of the jam, and Joey Votto's first home run of the season - in his hometown of Toronto - broke a 2-2 tie in the 8th and gave the Reds a 3-2 win in the series finale.
"It's everything a kid dreams of," Ashcraft told reporters afterward. "(I'm) just happy as all get-out."
Rush lead singer Geddy Lee was on hand at Rogers Centre for Ashcraft's MLB debut. Bally Sports Ohio's Jim Day reported that Ashcraft did not have any family members in Toronto because of COVID protocols and not finding out until Saturday that Ashcraft would make Sunday's start in place of the injured Connor Overton.
Social media reactions to Ashcraft's debut:
The Reds added Ashcraft, 24, to the Taxi Squad from Louisville on Wednesday. The sixth-round draft pick of the Reds in 2019 was a non-roster invitee to Major League spring training camp - his first - before the start of this season.
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