Bottom of the Order Propels Detroit Tigers To Win With 2-Out Runs

Detroit 6, Pittsburgh 1 (box)

The Detroit Tigers put a disappointing road trip behind them with a series opening win on Friday night.

The Pirates got out to a 1-0 lead by playing some National League ball. Akinori Iwamura walked, was sacrificed to second, and scored on an Andrew McCutchen double. The Tigers figured to get on the board in the bottom of the third but three straight Russ Ohlendorf strike outs of Ramon Santiago, Austin Jackson, and Johnny Damon stranded Brandon Inge on third and Alex Avila on second.

From then on this one was much different than the disappointing offensive outputs we saw in Kansas City and Chicago.

After two quick outs in the fourth inning, Brennan Boesch drove a first pitch offering 400 feet for a home run well beyond the left field wall. Guillen, Inge, and Avila followed with consecutive hits to give the Tigers two more runs and a 3-1 lead.

Boesch was the catalyst again in the sixth with a leadoff single and a stolen base to move into scoring position with two out. Alex Avila made sure the opportunity wasn’t wasted with his RBI single. Ramon Santiago made up for his third inning failure by depositing an Ohlendorf pitch in the left field stands for a two-run homer and a 6-1 lead.

When it was all said and done hitters five through nine had combined to go 10-for-19 at the plate with 2 home runs, 6 RBI (all with two out), and 6 runs scored to make sure Justin Verlander’s good start wasn’t wasted.

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