Russell Martin’s single gives Pirates sweep of Tigers at PNC Park
By Larry Snyder
Russell Martin’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 11th gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, sweeping the two-game set at PNC Park.
With their second 1-0 11th-inning win over Detroit in three days, the Bucs improved their record to 20-9 at home and 34-20 overall. The Pirates took three out of four this week from the defending American League champions, including a two-game split at Comerica Park.
Neil Walker hit the game-deciding homer in Tuesday’s victory, and the Pirates second baseman led off the bottom of the 11th with a line drive single to right field off Tigers righthander Luke Putkonen. Andrew McCutchen then walked to move Walker to second, and Gaby Sanchez hit a single through the left side of the infield to load the bases with no outs.
May 30, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Russell Martin (55) hits a game winning single against the Detroit Tigers during the eleventh inning at PNC Park. The Pittsburgh Pirates won 1-0 in eleven innings. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Finally, Russell Martin drilled a 2-1 fastball off the wall in left-center to give Pittsburgh its 16th victory in 20 games. It was the Bucs fourth 1-0 win in their last 11 outings.
Pittsburgh lefthanded starter Jeff Locke pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and a walk to go along with three strikeouts. Locke has now pitched 19 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings this season. He allowed four singles in the fifth, but escaped without a run with the help of right fielder Travis Snider’s perfect throw to the plate to retire Matt Tuiasosopo.
Righthander Vin Mazzaro came on for Locke in the sixth to strike out Tuiasosopo and got Brayan Pena to ground out to strand a pair of runners and keep the game scoreless. Mazzaro followed up with a scoreless seventh against the Tigers.
Lefthanders Tony Watson and Justin Wilson, then righties Mark Melancon and Bryan Morris got the call out of the bullpen to help preserve the victory with an inning each. Morris got the win with a perfect 11th, improving his record to 3-2 this season. Clint Hurdle’s crew held the Tigers scoreless for 31 of the final 32 innings of the series.
Detroit starter Doug Fister struck out 12 in seven innings and allowed just four hits. Righthander Joaquin Benoit and righthander Phil Coke each came in to pitch an inning each for Detroit, then Putkonen came in for the 10th and 11th innings.
Third baseman Miguel Cabrera hit two doubles for the Tigers, but Detroit still left 11 runners on base as they lost their third straight.
The Bucs hit three consecutive singles to start the fourth while the Tigers had four singles in a row to start the fifth inning. The two teams combined for 18 hits on Thursday.
Cincinnati (33-21) comes into PNC Park for a three-game set starting on Friday at 7:05 p.m. The Reds will send righthander Johnny Cueto (2-0, 2.76 ERA) to the mound, while Pittsburgh will counter with lefthander Wandy Rodriguez (6-2, 3.58 ERA). The game will be broadcast on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
Tomorrow night’s game with Cincinnati will be the 1000th game played at PNC Park, which played host to its first game back on April 9, 2001. That game was also against the Reds.
From The Clipboard: Starling Marte leads all major league leadoff batters in hits with 60 and ranks second in runs scored with 36…Neil Walker’s 42 career home runs as a Pirates second baseman ranks him second behind Bill Mazeroski (137) on the team’s all-time list…The Bucs are 24-9 when they hit a home run…Pittsburgh’s 37 stolen bases ranks fourth in the National League.