Pirates’ Bullpen Punished in 10-4 Loss to Tigers

Jared Jones struck out four batters in 2.2 innings and Henry Davis and Endy Rodríguez both homered, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 10-4 Pirates loss to Detroit on Sunday, March 2.

Jones didn’t have his best stuff, allowing a pair of doubles and loading the bases in the first inning, but his ability to rack up strikeouts limited the damage to just one earned run, a first inning groundout.

Davis led off the third with a homer to left field, tying the game 1-1, then the Tigers immediately ripped the lead back, stinging offseason acquisition Tim Mayza for a three-run homer. Pirates’ manager Derek Shelton responded with another call to the bullpen, this time phoning in for reliever Nicholas Dombkowski, who immediately allowed a homer to Trey Sweeney in an instance of lefty-on-lefty crime.

Pittsburgh (6-3) clawed back into the game with a homer from Darick Hall in the fifth, then Rodríguez’s two-run bomb the following frame… then the Tigers put them to bed, ringing up Chase Shugart for five runs, including another three-run blast, across just 0.1 innings.

Tsung-Che Cheng singled in the bottom of the inning and the Pirates loaded the bases in the eighth, but they never managed to plate another run.

Next up is a road date with the Yankees beginning at 6:35 p.m. on Monday, March 3.