Gio Urshela, Kerry Carpenter and Jake Rogers delivered RBI singles in the ninth inning as the Detroit Tigers rallied past the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 on Tuesday.
Detroit won for just the second time in six games by getting to Pirates closer David Bednar (1-1), who blew his third save opportunity in four tries.
Pittsburgh led 3-1 heading to the ninth before the Tigers broke loose against Bednar, a two-time All-Star who missed most of spring training with a lat injury.
Bednar walked Greene leading off the inning, then hit Spencer Torkelson. Urshela singled and both runners scored when Michael A. Taylor’s wayward throw from center to third base skipped into the netting near the Pittsburgh dugout.
“I mean, what we’ve seen over the past couple of years is he had elite command,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “Over the last three or four outings, that just hasn’t been there. I mean, even with the curveball, hitting Torkelson. Just, we have to clean up the command issue.”
Carpenter and Rogers followed with run-scoring singles to give Detroit a split of the short two-game interleague set.
“You know in some ways how we’ve gotten beat the last few games by them building innings with a walk or hit by pitch or base hit at the right time,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “And we did all of that in the same inning against a quality reliever.”
Urshela and Matt Vierling had two hits apiece for Detroit. Shelby Miller (3-0) pitched a scoreless eighth, and Jason Foley worked the ninth for his third save. Casey Mize allowed two runs in five innings and his velocity reached 98 mph as he continues his comeback from Tommy John surgery.
“It’s a great sign to know that my body is in really good position to be able to do that,” Mize said.
Edward Olivares homered twice for the Pirates. Ke’Bryan Hayes had two hits and drove in a run for Pittsburgh.
