Pirates at Tigers
The Pittsburgh Pirates have exchanged wins and losses through their first eight road games and hope to finally string together two victories in a row away from home when they begin a two-game interleague series with the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. A tiebreaking RBI double by rookie Jason Martin in the top of the ninth inning lifted the Pirates to a 4-3 win in the finale of a three-game set at Washington on Sunday.
Felipe Vazquez escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth to finish a two-inning, 43-pitch outing that gave Pittsburgh its seventh win in the last 10 overall. "The guy is incredibly talented," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle told reporters of his All-Star closer. "When you see him at 100 on his 42nd pitch, and basically you saw the velocity trend up throughout the outing." The Tigers have dropped four of their last five since a five-game winning streak after losing a pair at Minnesota over the weekend. They've been held to four runs or fewer in six straight games and stranded 10 runners in Sunday's 6-4 setback.
TV: 6:40 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FS Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates RH Joe Musgrove (1-1, 0.00 ERA) vs. Tigers LH Matthew Boyd (1-1, 2.60)
Musgrove has yet to allow an earned run in 15 1/3 innings, including 13 1/3 frames over his two starts while yielding just seven hits. The 26-year-old has 14 strikeouts against three walks and has not given up a home run in those two turns. He has pitched just one inning of relief in his career against the Tigers and is 5-2 with a 3.94 ERA in interleague play.
Boyd has surged out of the gate with 29 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings and has allowed two runs over 12 1/3 frames across his last two starts. He picked up his first victory of the year with six solid innings against Cleveland on Wednesday. The Oregon State product has been pounded for 10 runs and 16 hits in 7 2/3 innings in his career against the Pirates, including a loss at Pittsburgh last April in which he failed to get through four frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Pittsburgh RHP Chris Archer dropped his appeal of a five-game suspension and began serving it Sunday. He is slated to make his next start April 21 at home against San Francisco.
2. Detroit is last in the majors with seven home runs while Pittsburgh entered Monday ranked 27th with 11.
3. The Pirates won five of six meetings last year and they've taken four straight in Detroit.