DETROIT -- Although the night got off to a good start, the Tigers spoiled the debuts of Miguel Yajure and Rodolfo Castro.
Detroit put three decisive runs on the board in the fifth inning to earn the 5-2 victory against the Pirates at Comerica Park in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader. The Pirates took the opener, 3-2, and have won seven of their past 11 games after opening the season 1-6.
Yajure (0-1) was making his first major league start in his Pirates’ debut while Castro had never played a game above the High Class A level.
Not much was hit hard against Yajure through the first four innings before he ran into some trouble in the fifth. Niko Goodrum’s solo shot on the first pitch of the third inning was really the only mistake Yajure made early in his outing.
Jonathan Schoop greeted him with a 403-foot shot to left that came off the bat at 106.3 mph in the fifth inning. Things unraveled from there for Yajure. Two walks and two hits allowed two more runs to score, with Willi Castro delivering the final blow with an RBI single off of David Bednar.
Harold Castro added a run for Detroit on an RBI single in the sixth inning against Clay Holmes. It was only the second run allowed by Holmes since April 8.
Yajure wiped out Willi Castro’s first-inning single with a 3-6-3 double play. It was the third time a Pirates’ first baseman started a double play so far this season, which matches their entire 2020 total.
Rodolfo Castro struck out and bounced out twice in his first three major league at-bats. The 21-year-old got the start at third base in his debut.
The Pirates only mustered three hits in the nightcap, including a solo shot by Phillip Evans in the sixth inning, his fourth of the year.
Erik Gonzalez delivered a run scoring hit in both ends of the twinbill. He drove a Spencer Turnbull (1-0) fastball into right field to plate Bryan Reynolds in the opening inning of the nightcap. That run was manufactured by Reynolds’ two-out walk and an infield, bunt single against the shift from Colin Moran.
More coverage to come from Comerica Park in Detroit.