Bucs Take Ninth Inning, 1-0 Thrilla From Motown & the Series; Notes - Kang Back

Leonys Martin, who has been a Bucco thorn this series, started the game with a triple off Ivan Nova. But he stayed on third; the Tigers froze him with a pair of grounders to third and a 6-3 kept it scoreless. Gregory got a full-count, down Broadway two-seamer from Michael Fulmer and spanked a double, but two whiffs and a soft comebacker left him there. El Tigres went quietly in the second; ditto the Bucs,who have already fanned four times. A leadoff single in the third moved up on a grounder and wild pitch, but he stayed 90' short. Two more Pirates went down swinging in a 1-2-3 frame. In the fourth, a two-out Tiger knock was quickly erased by a Cervy caught stealing. Starling singled with one gone for Pittsburgh and went nowhere. Motown went down in order in the fifth; the Pirates got a Red Beard double but no cigar.

Ivan was a rock (photo Gregory Shamus/Getty)

The sixth saw Houdini Nova dodge another threat. His misplay and a single put Tigers at first and third with an out, but he coaxed a 4-6-3 (Frazier-Rodriguez-Bell) DP from Miggy to escape. The Bucs were frustrated, too. A Fraze single was erased by a Gregory DP. Starling walked and stole second, but J-Bell couldn't cash him in. Lots of smoke but no fire in the frame both ways. In the seventh, Detroit stranded a two-out double and the Burghers couldn't dent Daniel Stumpf. A two-out single was all the noise for Detroit in the eighth, and that had to survive a challenge; the Pirates wasted a two-down two-bagger by Fraze off Joe Jimenez, followed by a walk. Fraze danced around a tag at third, but the second base ump, it appeared, ruled him out of the baseline. Clint disagreed and was ejected.

On to the ninth. Felipe Vasquez got into quick hot water, giving up two singles (one deflecting off him on a comebacker) and a walk. Bases loaded, no outs? No prob. A grounder to Colin Moran turned into a force at home, followed by a pop up by the dangerous Victor Martinez and another grounder to leave three aboard. Alex Wilson fanned J-Bell, but his second pitch to Corey D was a slider that cleared the fence (after a review upheld the original call; a fan caught the ball in the first row, but behind the railing) and it was a dramatic 1-0 RTJR day for the Pirates.

One sweet swing is all it took (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Baseball is a funny game, no? The teams killed the ball yesterday only to be tamed today (maybe sun and decent temps got them off their rhythm). Ivan goes eight shutout innings giving up six hits and whiffing five while Felipe squeaks out frame, but guess who gets the win? Yep - Pittsburgh.

Notes:

• @RobBiertempfel of The Athletic reported that 3B Jung Ho Kang has been granted a US work visa and plans to rejoin the Pirates shortly, later confirmed by the FO. He'll have to fulfill the steps in his treatment program (tho he may have already) and will then report to Pirate City before a rehab assignment. It'll be an interesting reunion; the Bucs control him for the 2019 season via club option but at the same time kinda awkward with Colin Moran, Freeser and up-and-coming K'Bryan Hayes on the hot corner. There may be a position flip - remember, he started out at SS - in the makings. Still, it's a big win if he can recover his MLB mojo.

He's back...(photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

• The Bucs had six hits; Fraze had two of them.
• Corey D's dinger was the first walk-off homer of his career.
• S-Rod may not be hitting much, but he's made at least three plus plays with his glove over the past two days at two different positions.
• It was a beautiful day for a ball game, sunny and in the fifties. The Bucs drew 12,049.
• The Pirates traded minor-league OF'er Todd Cunningham to the Chicago White Sox for a PTBNL; Todd was a glove-first bench guy at Indy.