The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-4 in 14-innings last night, when Neil Walker drove in Josh Harrison with a double in the top of the 14th inning. The winning run was scored after pinch-runner Gorkys Hernandez committed a running blunder, on a Josh Harrison double. Hernandez was unsure if a diving play on Harrison’s hit was actually caught, and failed to re-touch second base after wandering backwards. Instead, he cut across the grass to third base and was called out on appeal. Former Pirate pitcher Tom Gorzelanny, a reliever for Detroit, took the loss.
Pirate starter Gerrit Cole was in line for his 12th victory of the season, until reliever Tony Watson allowed a two-run home run in the eighth inning. It was his first blown save of the season. The Pirate bullpen threw six shut-out innings after that.
The Pirates went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position last night, and stranded 19 runners.
The Bucs are now 3-7 overall in extra inning games this season. The run they scored in the extra frames last night, was the first since early May.
The Bucs and Tigers meet again tonight at 7:05pm. Pre-game on WISR 680am is 6:40pm. They play an afternoon game tomorrow in Detroit before returning home for a 10-game homestand prior to the All-Star break.
The Bucs picked up a game on first-place St. Louis, who lost to the Chicago White Sox 2-1 in 11-innings last night. The Cards now lead the Pirates by eight games in the NL Central.
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