The main thing I'm seeing here on Braxton Ashcraft is the skew towards a lefty heavy lineup, likely featuring at least six lefty bats. That's been the much stronger side for strikeouts for Ashcraft this year, where he uses his 43% whiff rate curveball, which drops to a 33% rate vs. righties. JRod, Arozarena and Victor Robles all hit from the right side and have some of the lower strikeout rates in this lineup vs. righties, so it helps that the tougher matchups are from the right side anyways. Four of the lefties in this Mariners order are running worse for strikeouts of late as well, so I like him to hit a 6th strikeout tonight if this projected lineup sticks. Laddering 7,8,9 Ks!

FanDuel. Braxton Ashcraft has cleared this strikeout line in nine of 15 starts. His curveball, which has yielded a 43% whiff rate to lefties while registering 30 strikeouts, has helped Ashcraft develop strong reverse splits. The Pirates righty has a 31% strikeout rate against southpaws, which should bode well against the lefty heavy Mariners. Seattle will likely start at least six lefties tonight, and are a strikeout prone team as is (23.5% K% against righties over the last two weeks). Plus, their bats have gone ice cold, with just a .589 OPS in that same split.