PITTSBURGH — Looking to snap a six-game losing streak that featured four especially frustrating losses at Wrigley Field, the Pirates finally broke through in the strangest of ways — with a quality start, a home run from Kevin Newman and a key hit with the bases loaded.
Add ‘em up, and they produced a 6-3 victory over the Tigers on Labor Day at PNC Park on Monday, one helped along by Pittsburgh’s four-run seventh inning.
With the bases juiced, Ke’Bryan Hayes pushed the Pirates in front for good by shooting a single through the right side, scoring two and giving his team a 4-3 lead. Yoshi Tsutsugo then plated two more with something that’s been equally as elusive — another single.
In 19 games with the Pirates, Tsutsugo had collected 12 hits — 11 of which have gone for extra bases. What’s more, five of his last seven hits have gone for extra bases.
But with the Pirates (48-89) looking to pad their lead, Tsutsugo drove an inside fastball from right-hander Kyle Funkhouser into right field to make it a 6-3 game. It was an odd managerial decision for Detroit’s A.J. Hinch, who had a left-hander, former Derek Holland, loose.
Hayes’ hit by itself wasn’t terribly unique. He had three on the day and began the day batting .372 with eight RBIs against American League foes. But the Pirates have also been absolutely awful with the bases loaded this season, hitting an MLB-low .189.
No matter. Hayes took a heater from Funkhouser the other way, allowing Ben Gamel and Cole Tucker to score easily.
Monday’s game also featured a strong outing from Bryse Wilson, who wound up working six innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
He was followed by Chasen Shreve, Chris Stratton and David Bednar, the Pirates’ top three relief options combining to nail this one down.
Like many of his starts thus far with Pittsburgh, Wilson had no problem attacking the zone and retired 11 in a row at one point before encountering trouble in the sixth.
Right fielder Robbie Grossman stroked a one-out double, Wilson walked third baseman Jeimer Candelario, and catcher Eric Haase singled to load the bases for Detroit.
That’s when shortstop Niko Goodrum turned on a Wilson slider, tucking it inside the first-base bag for a two-run double. Miguel Cabrera tacked on a sacrifice fly for the Tigers’ third run.
Amid a frustrating offensive season that saw the Pirates shortstop find a spark in August, Kevin Newman had cooled off lately, beginning this one with a .145 average and .426 OPS in his past 17 games (14 starts).
But two batters into bottom half of the first, Newman cranked an 0-1 fastball from Tigers starter Tarik Skubal into the left-field seats for his fifth homer of the season.
