DETROIT -- Facing probably the strangest turn of the season so far, the Pirates relied on their steadiest pitchers to nab a 3-2 victory in the day game of a doubleheader against the Tigers Wednesday at Comerica Park.
Making his fourth start of the season, Tyler Anderson (2-2) matched his season high with seven strikeouts while yielding two runs on three hits and a pair of walks. Richard Rodriguez and Kyle Crick combined to finish the game on the mound for the Pirates.
Rodriguez has not allowed a run in 18 consecutive innings dating back to last August. Crick has maintained a spotless ERA through 7 1/3 innings this year.
Through 20 ⅔ innings this season, Anderson has certainly been a bright spot for the Pirates’ rotation, sporting a 3.92 ERA with 21 punchouts so far. He leads the team in innings pitched and strikeouts.
It took a couple innings for the Pirates’ offense to get things going, but the top of the order jumped on Tigers’ starter Michael Fulmer (1-1) for three runs in the fourth inning. Bryan Reynolds followed Adam Frazier and Phillip Evans’ base hits with an RBI single to right to open the scoring.
Colin Moran plated Evans with a grounder that was fielded on a dive by third baseman Zack Short, who was playing in his first MLB game. And Erik Gonzalez delivered the final run-scoring knock with a two-out blooper off the end of the bat to score Reynolds.
Fulmer retired the first nine Pirates he faced before the fourth inning outburst chased the right-hander from the game.
The Pirates had seven hits in the contest but definitely left some runs on the board, going 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
The originally scheduled opener of the Pirates and Tigers series at Comerica Park was postponed Tuesday night as snow came down throughout the city. They'll reconvene at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday night for the nightcap.
More coverage of the Pirates' doubleheader from Detroit is to come from Comerica Park.
