DETROIT RALLIES IN NINTH, SNAPS SKID
Slumbering offense wakes up in time to support solid Mize outing
It was headed down the same path. The Tigers did a lot of things well Tuesday. The defense was stellar. They got five strong innings from starter Casey Mize. They scored first.
But for the fourth straight game they couldn’t produce, let alone sustain any offense. For eight innings, they were stymied by veteran lefty Martin Perez and they went into the ninth inning down 3-1.
But then Pirates closer David Bednar walked Riley Greene and hit Spencer Torkelson to start the ninth and in a blink, the Tigers rallied for four runs and snapped their three-game losing streak with a 5-3 win over the Pirates at PNC Park.
“We play the whole game,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Which today proved solid. What a great job by our guys staying in there and building an inning.”
Hinch inserted Zach McKinstry as a pinch-runner at first base and he and Greene both ended up scoring on a single to center by Gio Urshela. McKinstry’s aggressive dash from first to third forced an errant throw by center fielder Michael A. Taylor.
The ball bounced into the protective netting and McKinstry jogged home.
The Tigers have had six runners thrown out on the bases this year and Hinch has pounded the gavel every time in support of the aggression. A play like McKinstry’s Tuesday is why.
“McKinstry put incredible pressure on them going first to third which created the error,” Hinch said. “That’s why you take chances when you can on the bases.”
McKinstry got a big secondary lead and made a quick read on the ball off Urshela’s bat.
“When I was put in that situation, I knew what I needed to do,” he said. “I saw (third base coach) Joey (Cora) waving so I just took it.”
Said Hinch: “You do have to risk getting thrown out at that point. Obviously, we don’t want to get thrown out. It would have been a different question you’d be asking me. But our guys know applying pressure is going to be a part of how we need to win at the margins.”
That fast, it was a 3-3 game. Parker Meadows pinch-ran for Urshela. He went to third on a groundout by Colt Keith and scored on a bloop single over the drawn-in infield by pinch-hitter Kerry Carpenter. Bednar hit Javier Báez and Jake Rogers rapped an RBI single.
“In some ways, that’s how