Pirates Offense Capitalizes on Quintana’s Strong Start in 7-2 Win Over Tigers

Shortly after completing the first game of a straight doubleheader, the Pirates and Tigers met again at Comerica Park on Wednesday evening for game two. Jose Quintana looked sharp for the Pirates again, and the Pirates bats came alive in their 7-2 win over the Tigers.

The Pirates had opportunities to score early, and finally got on the board in the third when Jake Marisnick scored after Bryan Reynolds bounced into a double play. Not an ideal outcome for the Bucs, but it gave them the lead nonetheless.

They added another one the next inning when Roberto Perez blasted a solo shot to left, his second homerun of the season. It came off Alex Faedo, who was making his big league debut for the Tigers.

No doubter. pic.twitter.com/7PvLNtgc9S

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 4, 2022

After a Jeimer Candelario double to begin the fifth inning, the Tigers got on the board when Eric Haase blooped an RBI-single into right field. Detroit added another in the inning thanks to a Robbie Grossman run-scoring double down the left field line.

That was the only damage off of Quintana, who continued his strong start to the season. He gave up the two runs on four hits in five innings, walked one and struck out three.

Bryan Reynolds hit a pair of doubles in the game, his first two of the year. His seventh-inning double gave the Pirates runners on second and third with nobody out. Ben Gamel, who advanced to third on the double, scored on a wild pitch. Daniel Vogelbach extended the Pirates lead to 4-2 with a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

The Pirates struck three times in the ninth to pad their lead. The Pirates went 0 for their first 10 with runners in scoring position before Gamel drove in Marisnick with an RBI single. Vogelbach hit a two-run shot to right field to put the Pirates up 7-2. It was Vogelbach’s fourth homer of the year.

Vogelbach. Vogelbomb. pic.twitter.com/5pm3yZj6Xo

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 4, 2022

Chris Stratton escaped a jam in the seventh by striking out Jonathan Schoop with runners on second and third to end the threat. David Bednar finished off the win by covering the final six outs.

Zach Thompson, who pitched in relief for the first time this year, picked up his first win with the Pirates.

The Pirates will head to Cincinnati to begin a four-game series with the Reds beginning on Friday. They’ll have another doubleheader on Saturday.

Takeaways: 

• Mr. Reliable: Quintana continued his stretch of impressive starts going and again is doing everything the Pirates could have hoped for. His consistently inducing weak contact and keeping the Pirates in position to win the game. In his last three starts spanning 14.2 innings, he’s only allowed three runs and now sits with a 3.38 ERA on the season. Unfortunately for Quintana, he was not able to pick up a win, extending the Pirates Major League-record to 24 games to start the season without a starting pitcher earning a victory.
• Defensive Difficulties: The Pirates committed three errors, two of which led to a three-run fifth inning for the Tigers in Detroit’s 3-2 win over the Bucs in the first game of the doubleheader. The defensive woes carried over into game two when Josh VanMeter saw a routine grounder go through his legs, and Diego Castillo committed a throwing error. The Bucs have made eight errors in the field in their last three games, which will certainly need to improve moving forward.
• Good Day For Gamel: In the first game of the doubleheader, Gamel collected a pair of hits, including a two-run triple. In game two, Gamel had three more hits, including a double and an RBI, drew a walk and scored the go-ahead run for the Bucs in the seventh. Gamel, who began the day with a .230 batting average and a .647 OPS, saw both numbers increase to .275 and .765 respectively. He really set the tone for the offense from the leadoff spot in both games.