Tiger Offense Leaves Game Early

It was a slow start for both ball clubs on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, the Pirates changed that first, and harder. Pittsburgh scored once in the 3^rd, but it was a three run 4^th inning, that set the tone for the game. Pirate Center Fielder Andrew McCutchen began the inning with a home run to right center. Four more Pirate batters would reach in the inning, including a blooper-hit over the glove of Romine that would stretch the Tiger deficit to four.

In the 5^th, following a pair of singles and a wild pitch from Matt Boyd, the Pirates would score another and Tiger reliever Edward Mujica would come on for Boyd. The Pirates would add another run in the inning. The Tigers trailed 6-0.

The Tigers finally got on board in the 6^th inning, cutting that Pirate lead in half. Two singles from Candelario and Kinsler, and then a double from Adduci would drive in a run. Kinsler and Cabrera added two more in the inning off of a wild pitch and a sac fly. The Tigers trailed 6-3. That’s how the score would stay. The Tigers went down 1-2-3 in the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th.

Matt Boyd is credited for four innings of outs, and gave up six runs on nine hits with one walk and five strikeouts. For the fourth straight game, Tiger offense was missing in action. Mike Mahtook was the only Tiger with multiple hits. He went 2 for 4 and the Pirates outhit the Tiger ball club, ten to five.

The Tigers will look to put a four game losing streak behind them on Wednesday, when Justin Verlander(7-7  4.20 ERA) takes the mound. The Pirates will send out Ivan Nova(10-8  3.66 ERA). The Tigers will wrap up their four game series with Pittsburgh on Thursday before hosting Minnesota for three. Our Wednesday night coverage begins at 6:45 on 95.3 WBCK.