Tigers Look To Avoid Sweep By Pirates
PITTSBURGH (WWJ/AP) - The Tigers look to salvage one game in the three game series on the road against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday afternoon.
Miguel Cabrera and Brendan Boesch had run-scoring doubles Saturday for Detroit (22-23), which has lost five in a row after winning 10 of 11 including a season-high seven-game run May 7-14.
"We're making it tough for our pitchers right now," manager Jim Leyland said. "Everything is life and death for them because they have no cushion."
A well-rested Rick Porcello (3-2, 3.67) will take the mound for Leyland's team, hoping an unexpected day off won't slow his recent surge.
The right-hander was to face Toronto last Tuesday, but had his turn skipped after the contest was rained out. He hasn't pitched since. If the Pittsburgh Pirates can lend some run support to hard-luck Paul Maholm, then they could complete their first sweep in an interleague series in almost 10 years.
Looking to reach .500 again, the streaking Pirates will try to take their third straight from the sputtering Detroit Tigers on Sunday at PNC Park.
After a solid start from Jeff Karstens and five RBIs from Neil Walker in a 10-1 rout Friday, Pittsburgh (22-23) erased a two-run deficit Saturday en route to a 6-2 victory.
Kevin Correia pitched 6 2-3 solid innings for his sixth win, and first in five tries at home. Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 4 with two runs as Pittsburgh (22-23) won a season-high fourth straight.
"The guys are feeling it," Pirates first-year manager Clint Hurdle said. "There's a little bit of less anxiety in the dugout. Even when we were down 2-0 there was some calmness."
Pittsburgh is in position for its first interleague series sweep since June 15-17, 2001, at home against Cleveland.
While the Pirates have provided good run support to Karstens and Correia, the same cannot be said about what they have given Maholm (1-6, 3.67 ERA) this season. In nine starts, the left-hander has been backed by just 13 runs.
Maholm gave up three runs and four hits over 6 1-3 innings of Pittsburgh's 4-2 loss to Washington on Monday, dropping him to 0-3 with a 3.42 ERA in his last four starts.
He's gotten only five total runs of support over 26 1-3 innings during the current winless stretch, but Maholm told the Pirates' official website that things will turn around.
"I'm going to go out there and expect to win. I enjoy going out there. I'm not going to let run support or anything mess with my mindset. I'm going to go out there and lay it on the line every time," he said.
Porcello is 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA in his last five outings. He's allowed just seven runs over his last 31 2-3 innings, after yielding 10 in 10 innings while losing his first two starts of 2011.
Porcello has posted a 1.93 ERA while winning all three of his interleague road starts. One of those came on June 12, 2009, in Pittsburgh, where he limited the Pirates to one run and six hits in seven innings of a 3-1 triumph.
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