|
 Snider collected three hits and drove in four runs while Russell
Martin and Ike Davis belted solo homers as the Pirates leapfrogged
St. Louis atop the National League wild-card standings. Jeff Locke
(4-3) benefited from the early eruption, giving up four runs on
eight hits over five-plus innings to win his second straight start.
Verlander (10-11) endured the shortest outing of his career, giving
up five runs - four earned - on four hits and two walks in one
inning before leaving with shoulder soreness that will be further
evaluated Tuesday. Rajai Davis had three hits and two RBIs and
Miguel Cabrera added three hits and knocked in a run for Detroit,
which fell a half-game behind Kansas City in the American League
Central.
Pittsburgh answered Cabrera's first-inning RBI single with five runs
of its own in the bottom of the second, loading the bases on a
single and a pair of walks before Marte brought in all three runners
with a triple into the left-field corner. An error by first baseman
Victor Martinez and Jayson Nix's RBI single capped the inning before
the Pirates made it 8-1 in the second on Martin's sacrifice fly and
Snider's two-run homer.
Detroit's first five batters reached against Locke in the sixth on
four hits and a walk, including an RBI double by Torii Hunter and a
run-scoring single by Alex Avila, but Jared Hughes escaped the
no-out, bases-loaded jam by sandwiching a pair of strikeouts around
a fielder's choice groundout to keep the Pirates on top 8-4. Martin
and Davis belted back-to-back shots in the bottom of the frame to
extend the lead to six runs.
[to top of second column] |
GAME NOTEBOOK: Verlander, who managed to strike out the side in the
40-pitch first frame, had his previous shortest career outing against
the New York Yankees in 2008, lasting 1 1/3 innings. ... Pirates LF
Snider threw out Avila at home plate in the second inning and RF Gregory
Polanco gunned down Davis at homer to end the eighth. ... In addition to
Miller, the Tigers brought up two other relievers from Triple-A Toledo,
LHP Ian Krol and RHP Kevin Whelan, to fortify a bullpen that worked 12
innings in Sunday's 19-inning loss in Toronto. LHPs Blaine Hardy and
Patrick McCoy, who each threw three scoreless innings Sunday, were sent
to Toledo.
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