Pirates 1, Tigers 0 (11): Neil Walker’s third hit of the game – a solo home run in the top of the 11th inning – provided all the offense as visiting Pittsburgh won for the 14th time in its last 18 contests.
After Mark Melancon (1-0) stranded two runners in his only inning of work in the 10th, Walker turned on the first pitch he saw from Jose Ortega (0-2), sending a deep fly ball to right. Jason Grilli struck out the side during a perfect 11th to post his league-leading 21st save in as many chances.
Detroit’s Rick Porcello struck out a career-high 11 through eight innings and Pittsburgh’s Jeanmar Gomez went a season-high seven frames as each starter cruised through their scoreless outings after rain delayed the start of the game, yielding three singles each.
The Pirates mounted their first scoring threat in the eighth by getting two runners on with one out, but Clint Barmes grounded into an inning-ending 5-3 double play. Barmes’ throwing error on Omar Infante’s one-out grounder in the bottom half opened the door for Detroit, but reliever Justin Wilson retired the next two batters.
Pittsburgh threatened again in the ninth when Walker singled and advanced to third on a throwing error with two outs, but Garrett Jones popped out to center. Victor Martinez put a charge into the home crowd in the bottom half with a hard-hit liner, but left fielder Starling Marte’s catch on the warning track sent it to extra innings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The start of the game was delayed one hour and 13 minutes. … The Tigers’ 43-game streak of managing at least one extra-base hit came to an end. It was the second-longest streak in the majors, behind only Pittsburgh, which extended its streak to 47 with Walker’s home run. … The Pirates improved to 26-9 in Games 2-4 of a series this season.
Pittsburgh | Detroit | |
Jeanmar Gomez | Player | Rick Porcello |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
7.0 | IP | 8.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 11 |
3 | Hits | 3 |
0.00 | ERA | 0.00 |
Pittsburgh | Detroit | |
Neil Walker | Player | Alex Avila |
3 | Hits | 1 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 1 |
.600 | Avg | 1.000 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Pittsburgh | 6 | 1 | 9 | .162 | 12 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Detroit | 5 | 0 | 5 | .132 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |