Pittsburgh Pirates: Tyler Anderson Leads the Way in Victory Over Tigers

Following a postponement due to snow on Monday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers played game one of their doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at Comerica Park

It was a cold, snowy afternoon in Detroit. On this cold afternoon there was not much offense, but the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to do just enough to earn their 7th victory in their last 10 games. Following the 3-2 victory, the Pirates are now 8-9 on the season.

Scoring Breakdown

After two and a half innings of no-hit baseball for both teams, the Tigers were able to crack the scoreboard first in the bottom of the 3rd. A lead off double by Victor Reyes and a walk to Zack Short put Detroit in position to do damage early in the game. After a fly out and a steal of third base by Reyes, Robbie Grossman hit a sacrifice fly to center field and gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead. However, the Pirates were able to get out of that inning with very little damage done.

Pittsburgh answered right back in a hurry with a barrage of hits from the top of the lineup. Adam Frazier led off the fourth with a single to left field, followed by a Phillip Evans single to right, and a Bryan Reynolds RBI single to right to tie the game up at 1.

Colin Moran ripped a hard ground ball that was stopped by Short on a diving play, but Short was only able to retire Moran at first and another run scored. With the Pirates leading 2-1 and now two outs in the inning, Erik Gonzalez stepped up in the clutch with a single to left on a two-strike pitch to make it 3-1.

The Tigers got one run right back in the bottom half of that fourth inning on a Jonathan Schoop single that scored Wilson Ramos to make it 3-2. That score would hold final in the 7 inning first game of the doubleheader.

Ballin’ on the Bump

Tyler Anderson got the start in game one of the doubleheader. Anderson started the day by striking out the side in the 1st inning. He was consistently in the strike zone for most of the day, and was able to pitch five complete innings of 2-run ball. Anderson earned the win and recorded 7 strikeouts in his start.

The bullpen continued to be a bright spot for the Pirates in game one. Kyle Crick relieved Anderson to start the sixth inning, and he was able to retire the Tigers’ lineup in order. He struck out Jeimer Candelario, got Ramos to pop up to second base, and had Willi Castro ground out to third to end the inning.

In a one-run game heading into the seventh inning, which is the final regulation inning with the new doubleheader rule, Richard Rodriguez came into the game to shut it down. He also made quick work of the Tiger offense in his appearance. He got Schoop to ground out to Kevin Newman and then got Reyes and Short to fly out to end the game. This dominant appearance from Rich Rod earned him the save, which was just his second of the year.

Don’t look now, but…

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now won 7 out of their last 10 games and have done it all without their star third basemen in Ke’Bryan Hayes. They have a chance to get back to .500 in game two of the doubleheader on Wednesday night.

The offense is starting to figure it out for the most part, the guys that need to deliver have been doing so, the bullpen has been outstanding, and Hayes will be returning soon. This team is looking very competitive and it could potentially continue to get better in the next few days.

Let’s Go!

What’s Next?

The Pittsburgh Pirates will play game two of the doubleheader against the Tigers from Comerica Park in just a few hours. First pitch is set for 6:40 PM ET. The pitching matchup will most feature the Pirate debut of the highly touted Miguel Yajure, as Spencer Turnbull makes his season debut for the Tigers.