Ke’Bryan Hayes Homers as Part of Three-Hit Night in Pirates 6-6 Tie With Tigers

Ke’Bryan Hayes led the Pittsburgh Pirates’ offense as they tied 6-6 with the Detroit Tigers on Friday night in Lakeland.

Hayes, who has had a nice spring at the plate, went 3 for 4 with his team-high fourth home run. The two-run blast tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh inning. Hayes is now slashing .353/.371/.794 during spring training.

He’s currently in the midst of a six-game hitting streak.

After falling behind a run in the bottom of the eighth, Ji-hwan Bae led of the top of the ninth with a single. After stealing second and moving up to third base on a passed ball, he scored to tie the game 6-6 on an RBI-groundout form prospect Ernny Ordonez.

Juan Minaya pitched a scoreless ninth inning to preserve the tie.

Like Hayes, Connor Joe slugged a two-run homer. Joe’s home run came in the first inning and gave the Pirates an early 2-0 lead. It was Joe’s first round-tripper of the spring and he finished the night 2 for 4.

Ji-Man Choi and Mark Mathias both also had two-hit performances. Choi went 2 for 4 with a double while Mathias went 2 for 3 with an RBI.

Right-hander Roansy Contreras was the starter for the Pirates. The Tigers knocked him around for six hits and a pair of earned runs in 3.1 innings. He walked a pair and struck out three.

Jose Hernandez allowed two runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning in relief of Contreras. Roberto Stephenson and Angel Perdomo each were tagged with an earned run out of the bullpen.

The Pirates (9-14-4) will play host to the Baltimore Orioles at LECOM Park on Saturday night. Vince Velasquez is expected to be the Bucs’ starter.