Pittsburgh Pirates complete series sweep over Detroit Tigers with 8-4 victory

Fans are raising the Jolly Roger in Pittsburgh, while fans are raising their hands in utter disbelief in Detroit. The Pittsburgh Pirates completed the sweep of the Detroit tigers on Thursday with an 8-4 victory at Comerica Park.

Kyle Ryan, in just his fourth start of the season, had a decent outing. Though decent, his start on Thursday lasted only four innings.

Ryan’s Final Line: 4.0 IP, 3 Hits, 2 ER, 4 K

Tales had been floating around about just how dominating Pittsburgh’s trio of aces was, but now we can all say we lived to tell the tale; Pirates starters continued to mow down on Detroit’s lineup as Francisco Liriano threw a gem, tossing seven scoreless innings.

Liriano’s Final Line: 7.0 IP, 5 Hits, 0 ER, 5 K

Detroit’s offensive struggles continued for everyone not named J.D. Martinez.

On Thursday, Detroit went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine base runners stranded. In fact, until the bottom of the eighth inning things were very somber for Detroit’s lineup. It wasn’t until J.D. Martinez smacked a three run home run to pull Detroit within one run that the game was even remotely interesting.

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But, as the Detroit fan base is accustomed to by this point, the Tigers absolutely blew their chance at a win as the bullpen had their daily implosion.

With Jordy Mercer on base, Bruce Rondon allowed a double to Andrew McCutchen. Mercer then scored and put the Bucs ahead  5-3. Rondon kept his mediocrity going by giving up another double, this time to Neil Walker (shrieks of terror ensue), allowing Starling Marte to score and moving Francisco Cervelli to third.

Tom Gorzelanny was then called to the mound to clean up Rondon’s mess, and he did that somewhat. Sean Rodriguez grounded up but Cervelli still scored. Pirates now have a 8-3 lead.

The Tigers tacked on a sympathy run in the bottom of the ninth and the game ended with a score of 8-4.

After a miserable series with Pittsburgh, the Toronto Blue Jays roll into Detroit for a three game series beginning on Friday.