Bryan Reynolds hit his 100th career home run and Mitch Keller picked up his first win of the season as the host Pittsburgh Pirates won their third straight game, beating the Detroit Tigers 7-4 on Monday.
Connor Joe and Jared Triolo each had two hits and two RBIs for Pittsburgh, which improved to 9-2, its best start to a season since 1992. Reynolds, Jack Suwinski and Andrew McCutchen each had two of the Pirates’ 12 hits, Joey Bart drove in two runs and Rowdy Tellez and Suwinski both scored twice.
Keller (1-1) gave up two runs on five hits over six innings. He struck out nine, walked three and retired eight of the last nine batters he faced.
Colt Keith and Matt Vierling each had two hits and an RBI for Detroit, which took its third defeat in a row. Reese Olson (0-1) gave up six runs on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three.
Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Parker Meadows led off the game with a walk, stole second and scored on a line-drive single to left by Keith.
Pittsburgh parlayed four singles and a walk into a 3-1 lead in the second. Suwinski led off with a walk, advanced to second on a single by McCutchen, took third on a fielder’s-choice grounder from Tellez and scored on an infield dribbler by Joe. After Triolo loaded the bases with another infield single, Bart smacked a two-run single to center.
The Pirates extended the lead to 5-1 in the third on a two-out, two-run, bases-loaded single to center by Triolo.
The Tigers cut the deficit to 5-2 in the fourth when Vierling singled, went to third on a single by Javier Baez and scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach McKinstry.
Pittsburgh made it 6-2 in the fifth when McCutchen led off with a double off the top of the wall in right, advanced to third on a single by Tellez and scored on a double off the bottom of the wall in left by Joe.
Reynolds led off the sixth with his second homer of the season to make it 7-2, a 412-foot drive off reliever Tyler Holton deep into the bleachers in left.
Detroit cut it to 7-3 in the eighth on a one-out, bases-loaded single by Vierling. However, Aroldis Chapman then came in and ended the threat with back-to-back strikeouts of Baez and Wenceel Perez. It was the major league debut for Perez, who went 0-for-2.
Riley Greene had an RBI double in the ninth to end the scoring.
–Field Level Media
