Detroit 7, Pittsburgh 4
When: 12:35 PM ET, Thursday, April 14, 2016
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Temperature:
61°
Umpires:
Home -
Jerry Meals, 1B -
Ron Kulpa, 2B -
Gabe Morales, 3B -
Paul Nauert
Attendance:
18751
By The Sports Xchange
PITTSBURGH -- Nick Castellanos collected three hits and drove in four runs, Jordan Zimmermann tossed six shutout innings and the Detroit Tigers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-4 on Thursday.
Zimmermann (2-0) gave up six hits, walked two and struck out four. The right-hander, signed by the Tigers to a five-year, $110 million deal during the offseason, has worked 13 scoreless innings in his first two starts for Detroit.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his second save of the season.
Pittsburgh loaded the bases against Zimmermann in the first but failed to score when Gregory Polanco grounded out to short. The Pirates used three hits to load the bases again in the fifth with one out, but Starling Marte and Polanco each popped out.
Gerrit Cole pitched three perfect innings for the Pirates to start the game but ran into trouble when he faced the Tigers' lineup a second time.
Ian Kinsler led off the fourth with a single to center before Justin Upton reached on a fielder's choice and J.D. Martinez drew a two-out walk. Castellanos doubled off the wall in center field to send two runs home for a 2-0 lead.
Cole (0-2) gave up two runs, one walk and four hits with five strikeouts in six innings. He has dropped his first two decisions for the first time in his career.
Detroit added two runs off right-hander Rob Scahill in the seventh.
Martinez walked again, Castellanos singled and Tyler Collins doubled in a run. Castellanos tagged from third on Bobby Wilson's sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead.
Pittsburgh cracked the scoring column in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Drew VerHagen and pulled within a run.
John Jaso doubled and scored from third on Marte's two-out infield single. Marte advanced to third on Polanco's single and scored when Josh Harrison's grounder glanced off VerHagen's glove for another infield hit.
Jordy Mercer pulled Pittsburgh within 4-3 when he lined a single to left that scored Polanco from second. Right-hander Mark Lowe replaced VerHagen and the right-hander retired Chris Stewart to end Pittsburgh's rally.
The Tigers responded in the eighth with a run on Martinez's sacrifice fly before Castellanos extended the lead back to four with a two-run homer off left-hander Tony Watson.
Pittsburgh scored in the eighth when David Freese rolled a ball down the third-base line that bounced off the base for an RBI double into left field.
Detroit took three of four games from Pittsburgh and is 5-1 in interleague play to start the season. The Pirates have lost five of their last six games and are 5-5 after starting the season 4-0.
NOTES: Pittsburgh placed LHP Cory Luebke on the 15-day disabled list before the game. The Pirates recalled RHP Rob Scahill from Triple-A Indianapolis. ... Detroit transferred LHP Blaine Hardy's rehab assignment to Triple-A Toledo. Hardy (right shoulder impingement) was placed on the disabled list March 25 and made two rehab appearances for Class A Lakeland. ... Pittsburgh RHP Jameson Taillon made his first start in two years on Wednesday at Triple-A Indianapolis and picked up a victory by holding Toledo to one run and five hits in six innings. Taillon walked none and struck out six. ... Tigers manager Brad Ausmus celebrated his 47th birthday on Thursday.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Detroit
|
9 |
1 |
14 |
.281 |
11 |
7 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
| Pittsburgh
|
14 |
0 |
17 |
.350 |
23 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
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