Until the fourth inning, the Pirates could muster nothing against Detroit Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer.
The 28-year-old carved through the Pirates’ order with ease, allowing no baserunners and striking out a pair of Pirates through three perfect innings. By that time, the Tigers had scratched across a run on their own. Then Pittsburgh’s bats woke up all at once.
Second baseman Adam Frazier, designated hitter Phillip Evans and left fielder Bryan Reynolds hit back-to-back-to-back singles to score one run; first baseman Colin Moran ground out against the shift to drive in a second run; and three batters later third baseman Erik Gonzalez blooped a single into left field to plate Reynolds.
That was just enough for Pirates starter Tyler Anderson and the two relievers who pitched after him, as the Pirates clung on to a 3-2 win, securing Game 1 of their doubleheader with the Tigers and their seventh win in their last 10 games. They are now 8-9 on the young season.
“I think we found a couple holes,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “[Frazier] hit the ball, Phil went backside. We did a nice job. We gave up a run, we came right back and combatted it with three and continued to have good at-bats throughout the game. You know, we could have broke that game open late if not [for an] unbelievable play by [Tigers second baseman Willi Castro] to save two runs there at the end, but I thought our at-bats got better as the game went on.”
Anderson matched Fulmer out for out in the first two innings before finally giving up a double down the right-field line. That runner eventually scored on a sacrifice fly. Anderson gave up one more on a couple of base hits in the fourth inning, but that was it.
More impressively, he continued his penchant for getting strikeouts in a Pirates uniform, punching out seven of the 20 batters he faced and earning 15 total swings and misses over the game. He also leaned on his change-up, throwing it more than any other pitch.
“They stacked a bunch of righties out there. There were obviously a bunch of switch guys, too, but there were nine right-handers in the lineup,” Anderson said. “So for me, the change-up is one of my pitches and my strengths, so usually when you get a right-handed-heavy lineup, you have to throw that a little more frequently.”
Right-handers Kyle Crick and Richard Rodriguez slammed the door for the Pirates in the sixth and seventh innings. Rodriguez’s 1-2-3 outing maintained an impressive stretch for him so far this season, in which he still has allowed just two baserunners and no runs against him.
The second game of the doubleheader will begin at 6:40, with rookie right-hander Miguel Yajure making his Pirates debut in the majors. Yajure was a part of the return Pittsburgh received from the Yankees in the Jameson Taillon trade.
