On the menu for the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday afternoon in Detroit: their ninth sweep of the season, which they earned with an 8-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers. It was the first sweep ever for the Pirates in Detroit.
The Pirates totaled 64 base runners and 49 hits in three games against the Tigers, which is a season high.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau the Pirates most recently had 49 hits in a three game series against the Chicago Cubs from Aug. 28-30 2006.
They also are 21-19 on the road after 40 games after posting a 37-44 record away from PNC Park last season.
For the eighth time this season, Francisco Liriano [5-6] pitched at least seven innings. He allowed five hits and struck out five while throwing 104 pitches, 61 of which were strikes. His ERA lowered to 2.99 on the season and he now has 15 consecutive scoreless innings in Interleague play.
“That’s just a big league outing for Frankie,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “With what he had with the fastball and the move with the slider and changeup they weren’t able to sit on any pitch. I thought he did an excellent job staying as the aggressor and making pitches.”
Liriano’s biggest test came in the fourth inning with both Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera on base. Victor Martinez entered the at-bat as a .448 hitter against the Pirates left-handed starter. However, his hard hit ground ball was right at Jordy Mercer and Liriano would get out of the inning.
“I just had to go out there and forget everything that has happened with the Tigers,” said Liriano. “In the past, I’ve tried to make perfect pitches to those guys, and I have ended up leaving the ball in the middle of the plate. Today, I just executed.”
The Pirates scored one run each in innings four through seven.
In the fourth, Francisco Cervelli hit his fourth home run of the season on a 3-1 count off Kyle Ryan [1-2]. In the fifth inning it was an Andrew McCutchen sacrifice fly, which scored Sean Rodriguez. Rodriguez was one of two Pirates who walked in the inning.
In the sixth inning, the Pirates strung together three singles and the final one, hit by Neil Walker, brought Jung Ho Kang across home plate.
Jordy Mercer led off the seventh inning with a double and he was brought home by Starling Marte’s single.
Antonio Bastardo came in to pitch the seventh inning and struggled with his command, allowing a leadoff single to Ian Kinsler and then getting behind in the count to the next two hitters. He would pay when J.D. Martinez hit a 2-0 pitch into the right-center field seats for his 21st home run of the season and second of the series. This scored all three Tigers runs.
Tony Watson came in and struck out Nick Castellanos, earning his 19th hold of the season.
A four-run ninth started with a Mercer single and steal his third base of the season [his first since May 30]. McCutchen then doubled just out of the reach of Rajai Davis scoring Mercer. Marte added a single and Cervelli was hit by a pitch.
Walker struck once again with a double which allowed an addition two Pirates runs to be added to the board. He went 10-for-17 this series with seven RBI.
“If you score runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings you’re going to have a lot of success and to answer back after the three run homer there in the eighth, that was big,” Walker said. “Even to add one run would have been big but to add three, was really good.”
The inning continued with a Sean Rodriguez RBI ground out, his first RBI since June 16.
Vance Worley pitched the ninth inning and an Ian Kinsler ground rule double led to a run, this came with two outs and Mark Melancon was placed into the game with two on making the game a save situation.
Melancon earned his 25th save of the season tying Glen Perkins of the Minnesota Twins for highest total in the major leagues. Melancon entered the game with a 0.29 ERA in his last 31 games and this is his 23rd consecutive successful save opportunity.
In the weekend sweep, the Pirates had all of their starters reach base in each game.
A 10-game home stand which begins Friday against the Cleveland Indians will conclude the first half of the season. The Indians are coming off a four-game road sweep against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Charlie Morton [6-1 4.28 ERA] will face Trevor Bauer [6-5 3.96 ERA]. Morton is making his first career appearance against the Indians and has a 3-6 record with a 4.43 ERA in 11 career Interleague starts.
Photo credit: Leon Halip/Getty Images
