Pittsburgh Pirates flatten Detroit Tigers 4-1 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates showed some great team work skills as they overpowered Detroit Tigers 4-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 23 in the second game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Manager Jim Leyland and company will be extremely disappointed with their performance on Sunday evening. With the exception of Miguel Cabrera, none of the Tigers’ hitters were able to live up to the expectations.
Third baseman Cabrera homered to centre in the seventh inning of the game but the effort was never going to be enough.
The hard hitting Cabrera smashed his 15th home-run of the season. Although his .302 average this season is slightly less than his career average, Leyland will be pretty impressed with what he has seen from Cabrera this season.
Pirates’ starting pitcher Brad Lincoln put up another masterful performance, leading his side to an impressive series victory. Lincoln gave up just two hits and a run in six plus innings to help his team take complete control of the contest.
"We did want to give him an opportunity to pitch at home," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "There's no place like home -- Dorothy said it a long time ago. Our pitchers have pitched well here. There's a comfort zone here, they're aggressive and attack the zone, and Brad was able to follow suit with that today."
"I can't imagine what he must have been feeling today," Tigers catcher Alex Avila said of Max Scherzer, whose brother died Thursday at 24. "I don't if there any words to explain what he's going through right now. He pitched a great game."
The starter took the no hitter into the fifth before Ramon Santiago managed to get a hit off him. In his previous three starts, Lincoln had allowed 13 runs in just over 11 innings so he will be very pleased with what he achieved on Sunday evening.
Centre Fielder Andrew McCutchen also played a crucial role in deciding the result of the game as he hit a three run home run in the fourth inning to give Pirates a decisive 3-0 lead.
Tags: