Riley Greene drove in four runs and Tarik Skubal collected another home victory as the Detroit Tigers pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-2, in the opener of a doubleheader on Thursday.
Skubal (8-2) gave up two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out six while running his home record to 6-0. Skubal is 8-0 with five no-decisions in his last 13 starts.
Gleyber Torres supplied three hits, two runs and two RBIs, while Zach McKinstry added a solo homer for the American League-leading Tigers.
Pittsburgh starter Andrew Heaney (3-6) gave up seven runs and eight hits in four innings. Andrew McCutchen had two hits and an RBI for the Pirates.
Skubal started off a little shaky, allowing a single and two walks in the first inning. He bounced back with a strikeout and flyout to leave the runners stranded.
Detroit scored a run in the bottom of the inning. Torres led off with a single and moved to third on Jahmai Jones’ double. Torres scored on a Greene sacrifice fly.
The Tigers extended their lead to 5-0 in the second. Dillon Dingler and Javier Baez had one-out singles and Parker Meadows walked to load the bases. Torres knocked in Dingler with a sacrifice fly.
A walk to Jones loaded the bases again and Greene cleared them. He hit a liner and center fielder Billy Cook made an unsuccessful diving attempt, resulting in a three-run double.
The Tigers scored two more runs in the fourth. Meadows smacked a one-out single and scored on Torres’ double to left. A walk and single loaded the bases for Spencer Torkelson, who drove in Torres with a sacrifice fly.
The Pirates broke through in the fifth. Cook singled and moved to third on Nick Gonzales’ double. Cook scored on McCutchen’s grounder.
McKinstry drove a Chase Shugart offering over the right-field wall in the bottom of the fifth. Colt Keith’s sacrifice fly later in the inning made it 9-1.