PITTSBURGH — Wednesday night didn’t start the way Braxton Ashcraft wanted. He made sure it finished according to plan.

Ashcraft allowed three consecutive singles to start, then settled down for six strong innings to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 11-1 win against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park. Ashcraft didn’t walk anyone and struck out 10, one shy of a career-high.

With the outing, Ashcraft became the first Pirates pitcher since 1901 to have multiple starts with 10-plus strikeouts and no walks in a season.

The Pirates gave him plenty of support. They had 15 hits, including six doubles and a triple. Ryan O’Hearn alone went 4 for 5 with three doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored.

After the initial Seattle run, coming on singles from J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez (on three consecutive pitches), neither team scored until the fourth. The Pirates didn’t record a hit against Mariners starter Bryan Woo until the fourth, when they tacked together six hits in a five-run frame. Woo threw 40 pitches in the inning.

Bryan Reynolds had the first single, extending his hitting streak to 14 games and his on-base streak to 29, the longest in baseball. Three consecutive extra-base hits gave the Pirates a 3-1 lead: O’Hearn doubled, Endy Rodriguez plated two with his own double, then Tyler Callihan scored Rodriguez with a triple.

Jake Mangum and Esmerlyn Valdez added RBI singles. Valdez’s single, a pinch-hit effort for Spencer Horwitz, was a 107 mph, 401-foot liner off the center-field wall.

The Pirates tacked on four more in the seventh against Seattle reliever Nick Davila, loading the bases with two singles and a walk before a two-run double from O’Hearn, an RBI single for Rodriguez and Callihan’s sacrifice fly.

Ashcraft struck out two batters in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the second and third innings, he struck out just one.

It was over when …

… the Pirates added four in the seventh, although they tacked on two more on three doubles in the eighth for good measure. Valdez, Reynolds and O’Hearn all doubled against right-hander Alex Hoppe.

On the mound

Ashcraft threw 86 pitches, an impressive 68 for strikes. Carmen Mlodzinski pitched the final three innings.

Ashcraft and Mlodzinski combined to hold the Mariners hitless from Josh Naylor’s two-out double in the third to Rodriguez’s leadoff single in the ninth.

At the plate

The Pirates had 15 hits. Thirteen of the 15 came in their three big innings.

Nick Gonzales went 2 for 4 with two singles and scored twice.

Bucs bites

— Konnor Griffin played in his first rehab game for Double-A Altoona on Wednesday night since missing three-plus weeks with a right forearm flexor strain. He went 2 for 2 with a triple, homer, walk, hit by pitch, three RBIs and three runs scored. He also committed a throwing error. Griffin was the youngest player on Altoona’s roster.

— Horwitz was removed after playing defense in the top of the fourth inning with left hamstring discomfort.

— Valdez doubled in the eighth inning. His single was his first (and so far only) non-extra-base hit of his major league career, as he’s batting .167 (5 for 30) with two homers, two doubles and six RBIs.

Up next

The Pirates and Mariners will play for the series at 12:35 p.m. ET Thursday. Bubba Chandler (2-7, 4.62) will look to build off of a few recent strong starts against Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller (3-1, 1.58).