The Sports Xchange
Aug 10, 2017
DETROIT -- Gerrit Cole won his seventh consecutive road start in his longest outing of the season, and the Pittsburgh Pirates held off the Detroit Tigers 7-5 on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park.
Cole (10-8) limited the Tigers to three runs on six hits over eight innings. He struck out seven and retired the last 11 batters he faced. Cole's outing was his longest since he threw a complete game against Seattle on July 27 of last year.
Josh Bell homered and drove in three runs for Pittsburgh (57-58), which has won six of its last eight. Sean Rodriguez also homered and knocked in two runs, while Adam Frazier supplied three hits, a run scored and two RBIs. Pirates leadoff hitter Starling Marte added two hits and scored twice.
The Tigers rallied for two ninth-inning runs before Felipe Rivero retired the last two batters to notch his 11th save.
Nicholas Castellanos drove in two runs with his American League-leading ninth triple for the Tigers (52-62), who have lost five of six. Mikie Mahtook homered and scored twice.
Detroit's Drew VerHagen (0-2) gave up six runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings in his second major-league start this season.
The Pirates struck first in the opening inning when Frazier tripled and scored on Bell's sacrifice fly.
Detroit answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Mahtook and Miguel Cabrera reached on singles before Castellanos provided a two-out, bloop triple that landed just inside fair territory along the right-field line.
Pittsburgh tied it in the second on Gregory Polanco's leadoff double and Rodriguez's RBI single.
Bell made it 4-2 with his 20th homer. His two-out, two-run bullet over the right-field wall came on the first pitch from VerHagen.
Mahtook's third-inning homer, which landed in the visitors' bullpen, cut the Pirates' lead to one.
Frazier ended VerHagen's day with his two-out, two-run double to left-center in the fourth.
Rodriguez greeted reliever Edward Mujica with a leadoff homer in the eighth for a 7-3 Pirates lead.
NOTES: Pittsburgh CF Andrew McCutchen served as the designated hitter. He is the fifth different player to DH in seven interleague road games this season. ... Detroit RHP Michael Fulmer, who is on the 10-day disabled list with a right elbow injury, will throw a bullpen session on Friday or Saturday. "We're not slotting him in at this point but there's a possibility he could start in Texas," manager Brad Ausmus said. The Tigers play the Rangers Monday through Wednesday. ... The Pirates have now won their last 17 games when scoring at least four runs. ... Tigers DH Victor Martinez had gone hitless in his previous 21 at-bats prior to his fourth-inning single.