Leonys Martin was writhing in the ground, evidently in the most unbearable of pain after being hit in the groin by a ball that he fouled off home plate.
Martin needed almost five minutes to gather his composure before resuming the first at-bat of the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader.
Then he proceeded to blast a home run to center field.
It was that kind of game.
The Tigers had 20 hits (including four home runs and five doubles) and survived a nearly equal offensive onslaught from the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the opener 13-10 at PNC Park.
The top of the Tigers' lineup was potent: Third baseman Jeimer Candelario scored five runs, the first Tiger to do so since Carlos Guillen in 2008; right fielder Nicholas Castellanos had four hits and four RBIs; and Miguel Cabrera doubled three times.
Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann lasted only three innings, but relievers Daniel Stumpf and Alex Wilson came up with key outs to preserve the Tigers' lead.
The Tigers (10-11) now have beaten a team with a winning record for the first time in 2018, although the Pirates (12-11) could lose that distinction by the time Wednesday night is over.
Game 1 took three hours and 51 minutes, meaning Game 2 should start about 8:30 p.m., which could make for a long night in Pittsburgh. The two teams play the series finale on Thursday at 12:35 p.m.
WORTH NOTING
* All three of the runs on Cervelli's home run were unearned due to an error charged to Tigers second baseman Niko Goodrum.
Goodrum came off the base too quickly as he tried to turn a double play. The Pirates alertly called for a review and the runner forced out at second base was ruled safe.
Goodrum also had a rough day at the plate, earning a Golden Sombrero for striking out in four at-bats.
* Martin's home run in the first inning was the second to lead off a game in his career. The other came on Sept. 11, 2014, against the Los Angeles Angels when he played for the Texas Rangers.
* JaCoby Jones' double in the first inning extended his hitting streak to a career-long seven games. Tigers catcher James McCann has also hit in seven straight games.
* Miguel Cabrera's two-run double in the fourth tied the game at 6 and gave him 1,629 career RBIs, passing Harold Baines for 30th all-time.
* Warwick Saupold got his first Major League at-bat in the top of the fifth inning. He went down on three strikes.
Outfielder Mike Gerber entered as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and reached on a fielder's choice in his first big-league at-bat.
Jeimer Candelario scored a career-high five runs and finished a triple shy of the cycle to lead the Detroit Tigers in a 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of a straight doubleheader.
It was the Tigers' first win over a team over .500 this season.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a leadoff home run by Leonys Martin and an RBI double by JaCoby Jones.
The Tigers scored five runs — a home run by James McCann, two-run double by Miguel Cabrera and two-run home run by Nicholas Castellanos — in the fourth to take an 8-6 lead.
Candelario's solo home run in the sixth gave the Tigers a 9-7 lead.
The Tigers added three more runs in the eighth, including a sac fly to center by Jose Iglesias.
Jordan Zimmersucks allowed six runs (three earned) on six hits over three innings. He walked one and struck out four. Zimmersucks has allowed 20 runs (17 earned) over 19⅓ innings. Zimmersucks gave up a tying two-run home run to Colin Moran in the second inning and a three-run home run to Cervelli in the third. Victor Reyes was inserted as a pinch hitter for Zimmersucks in the fourth inning, with the Tigers down, 6-4.
Zimmersucks ERA sits at 7.91 and until Zimmersucks pitches sustained innings with more crispness than he delivered Wednesday, the Tigers rotation will be under strain hardly imagined when he was signed three years ago to a mammoth five-year deal.
Zimmersucks insisted that “little things like that keep coming back to bite me.” Gardenhire, though, had a slightly different view afterward, and so, perhaps, did a box score that showed Zimmersucks giving up six hits and two home runs in three innings.
“Sometimes it looks as if all of his stuff is blending together,” said Gardenhire, suggesting speed differentials perhaps aren’t wide enough to keep hitters off-balance. “Every time he made a bad pitch, they whacked it.
“I think he’s got to slow it down a little bit,” said Gardenhire, who could see Zimmersucks was throwing a heavy supply of fastballs, which topped out at 92. “Pitches somehow are blending together.”
Jordan Zimmersucks is an issue that won’t go away
After another disastrous outing, Zimmersuck’s ERA stands at 7.31. He’s striking out plenty of hitters—in fact his K-BB ratio is downright stellar—but not enough to save himself from the hard contact and home runs that are piling up every time he takes the mound. He had a bit of bad luck on Wednesday, but he’s getting hammered with every mistake and the margin for error just seems non-existent. The Tigers owe Zimmersucks over $60 million through 2020, but there’s a reckoning coming this summer if he can’t stabilize the situation. Not only is he hurting the team’s chances of winning games, he’s taking their bullpen and putting a lot of other guys in bad position to succeed. The Tigers will no doubt cling to any shred of hope a while longer, but at some point they’ll have to concede that their investment in Zimmersucks is simply a lost cause.
The Tigers outhit the Pirates, 20-14. Seven Tigers had at least two hits, as Niko Goodrum (1-for-6) was the only regular without multiple hits.
Martin took a few minutes to shake off being hit in the groin on his own foul pitch, then hit his third home run of the season and second career leadoff home run to center.
Jones extended his hitting streak to a career-high seven games with his RBI double in the first inning.
Castellanos had an RBI single in the third, a two-run homer in the fourth and an RBI single in the eighth. He finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs. It was the fifth four-hit game of Castellanos' career.
Cabrera's two-run double in the fourth gave him 1,629 RBIs, moving him past Harold Baines (1,628) for 30th on the all-time MLB list. He finished 4-for-6, including three doubles and three runs scored.
McCann extended his hitting streak to seven games in the fourth with his second home run of the season.
Warwick Saupold allowed one run on four hits over 1⅔ innings with one walk and one strikeout. Saupold also had his first at-bat in the majors. He struck out swinging in the fifth.
Lefty Daniel Stumpf entered with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth to protect a one-run lead. Stumpf got left-handed hitter Adam Frazier to ground out to first. Stumpf didn't give up a hit or walk over 1⅓ innings and struck out one.
Joe Jim?nez allowed three runs in a rough eighth inning.
Closer Shane Greene pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
The two teams combined for 34 base hits, 20 of them by Detroit, in a game that was more of an ordeal that lasted 3 hours, 51 minutes.
The Tigers offense just raged in game one, but the key takeaway was the continued success of a pair of young players. While Cabrera and Castellanos are expected to mash, and did, it’s JaCoby Jones and Jeimer Candelario who are really exciting the Tigers’ fanbase at the moment.
Jones ripped a double, a single, drew a walk, scored a run, and absolutely smoked the ball in another at bat, lining out to right field. He also made a nice defensive play early in the game, cutting off a line drive heading into the left field corner. Jones wheeled and threw a picture perfect strike to second base to hold the batter to a single.
Candelario had seen 54 more pitches than anyone else on the Tigers prior to his appearance in the ninth inning. He continues to provide a miserable experience for opposing pitchers by showing good discipline and spoiling a lot of tough pitches. It’s been an extremely impressive introduction to the young third baseman.
https://www.mlb.com/tigers/video/castellanos-two-run-home-run/c-1974896283
Webvideo Highlights of the Tigers win over the pirates in game 1.
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/tigers-...764#game_state=final,game_tab=box,game=529764
Boxscore.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2018/04/leonys_martin.html#incart_river_index
Gardy ribs Leonys Martin after bad bounce: 'I didn't think his voice could get any higher'.
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