The Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers made up for the fact that they postponed their opening day by playing a lot of extra baseball, but the Pirates got the victory in 13 innings by the score of 13-10.
The teams traded the lead back and forth throughout the game, and in the bottom of the 9th, Francisco Cervelli singled on a ground ball to right field, scoring Starling Marte to break a 6-6 tie. Cervelli would eventually score on a passed ball with Adam Frazier batting. Josh Bell would hit a soft single to Dixon Machado, but the throw to first was off-target. Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer scored on that play. It would be equalled in the bottom of the 9th as James McCann had a 2-RBI single on a sharp line drive to center field. Dixon Machado would score two of his own to bring it back to a tie at 10 apiece.
Things got wild in the 10th, when JaCoby Jones hit what was the game-winning single to score Nicholas Castellanos, but the throw to the plate looked to be late and Pirates catcher Cervelli missed the tag. But the Pirates, with nothing to lose, challenged the missed tag. Replay officials in New York overturned the “safe” call, and took the run off the board, saying later on that Cervelli actually did get the tag in. That upset Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire who, in his first game as their manager, argued with the umpires after the review, and was thrown out of the game.
In the 13th, Gregory Polanco hit a three-run homer to put the Pirates on top and the defense and bullpen came through for the Bucs as they held on in the bottom of the 13th to win it.
The Pirates play the Tigers again today starting at 12:45 on WCCS.
