'That's how you win': Tigers rally in ninth to topple Pirates, snap skid

Pittsburgh — 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. 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."

BOX SCORE: Tigers 5, Pirates 3

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 we've gotten beat the last few games," Hinch said. "With them building an inning with a walk or a hit by pitch or a base hit at the right time. We did all of that in the same inning against a really quality reliever.

"So happy flight and going home on a win that felt maybe a little more urgent than most."

Jason Foley, who hadn't pitched since Friday, gave up two singles and locked down the bottom of the ninth for his third save. He got the Pirates' Oneil Cruz to ground out with a runner on to end it.

"All games we're trying to win, but it feels pretty dang good getting this one," said Mize, who allowed two runs in five solid innings. "We've had a rough three-and-half games counting this one, so going into the off day and splitting this series feels really good."

Before the game, Hinch shuffled the top of his batting order looking to create a spark. He moved Matt Vierling and Mark Canha to the top of the order and moved Greene ahead of Torkelson. The move did create a spark, but not a full-on fire.

Vierling led off the game with a single and went to third on a single by Greene. Torkelson, who was 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, poked an RBI single.

But that was pretty much it. Perez, mixing sinkers, cutters, curveballs and changeups, allowed just three other hits through eight innings. The Tigers, it seemed, kept trying to pull the ball against the relatively soft-tossing lefty and that fed right into his strengths.

The Tigers made 11 ground-ball outs against Perez and all but one was a rollover to the pull side of the field. Perez also struck out a season-high seven.

The frustration was palpable. Rogers angrily flung his bat toward the Tigers' dugout in the eighth after a rollover ground ball to third. He threw it harder than he wanted and it banged dangerously into the fence in front of his teammates.

"Those runs (in the ninth) were huge, that's how you win," Hinch said. "But if you don't prevent them like we prevented them today, we're not in that game."

The Tigers played some spectacular defense. Báez took a hit away from Jared Triolo with a diving play at shortstop, going to his left and making a quick, strong throw from his knees. Second baseman Keith also took a hit away from Triolo with a deft play going to his right on a ball that left the bat at 104 mph. Vierling made two exceptional running catches in center field, taking extra-base hits away from Edward Olivares and Triolo.

The play of the day, though, belonged to Greene in left field. He tracked a slicing drive by Ke'Bryan Hayes to the wall and made a leaping catch as he crashed into the wall. The ball appeared to be heading over the fence.

"I went back and watched the video and I think it was going over," Greene said. "Off the bat I knew it was hit pretty well. It was two outs and runner on first and I really didn't want that guy going first to home, so I played a little deeper. I got back to the wall and I didn't realize I was that far away from it.

"I thought I was going to hit the wall earlier than I did. But I caught it. That's all that matters."

Greene told Hinch in the dugout that he didn't know where the wall was. To which Hinch dryly replied, "Well, you found out as soon as you jumped."

Mize stood on the mound with his hands raised to the heavens.

"It was 0-2, bad pitch and he smoked it," Mize said. "I saw Riley go to the wall. I've seen him make a bunch of great plays out there and I was hoping he could make another one. And he did. He gave up his body and made an awesome play. Difference in the game."

Mize had a very lively fastball, hitting 98 mph repeatedly and sitting at 96.7, and he was very stubborn with it. Even though the Pirates’ hitters are hot and they were hunting fastballs early in the count, he threw his four-seamer 47% of the time. Even when Olivares ambushed a 95-mph, first-pitch fastball to lead off the second inning with a homer, Mize came right back with a first-pitch fastball to Rowdy Tellez.

"The game plan was to use the fastball a lot," Mize said. "I don't think I used it enough in my first start. They (the Pirates) were pretty comfortable on fastballs out over the plate and that's why I didn't get as many swings and misses as I would have liked."

The Pirates battled him, for sure. They only whiffed three times on 23 swings at heaters. It was an intriguing battle. Neither Mize nor the Pirates hitters gave in.

"I should've have thrown inside more than I did and maybe I would have gotten more swing-and-miss," Mize said. "But I didn't shy away from it. I kept throwing it in there."

Olivares hit his second home run of the game in the sixth, launching a changeup off lefty reliever Tyler Holton into the left-field seats.

Mize was more unhappy with the command of his fastball than he was pleased with the extra velocity.

"It's a good pitch for me," he said. "I like the 98, but the location could be better. I feel like an executed fastball at 95 mph can be as good as just throwing 98. But it's a great sign to know my body is in a good position to do that."

The Tigers will open a four-game series against the Central Division rival Twins on Thursday.

"It's big," Carpenter said of the win Tuesday. "It's big to stop the skid like that. It gives us a little more confidence going into the off day ahead of the series against the division champs."

chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com

@cmccosky