Corey Dickerson broke a shutout stalemate, hitting a walk-off home run to left field against reliever Alex Wilson to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers Thursday at PNC Park.
The Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the ninth but failed to score against Pirates reliever Felipe Vazquez.
In the bottom of the ninth, Wilson struck out Josh Bell and then gave up the home run to Dickerson on an 0-1 slider.
The Tigers squandered a brilliant performance by Michael Fulmer, who was brilliant through six innings, striking out nine batters and getting swings and misses on 24 of his 99 pitches. (By comparison, he got just two whiffs when he struggled at Cleveland on April 12).
The nine strikeouts were the most by Fulmer since May 5 last year at Oakland.
Daniel Stumpf and Joe Jimenez each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
Pirates starter Ivan Nova pitched eight shutout innings, striking out five with no walks.
The Pirates (14-11) took five of six games from the Tigers (10-13) this year, including two of three this week in Pittsburgh.
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/tigers-...779#game_state=final,game_tab=box,game=529779
Boxscore.
WORTH NOTING
* Fulmer was visited by Tigers athletic trainer Matt Rankin in the sixth inning after he issued his first and only walk of the game.
Rankin appeared to be looking at Fulmer's right hand. Fulmer remained in the game and finished the inning before exiting.
* Leonys Martin led off the game with a triple that hit off the center field wall. He had two home runs in Wednesday's doubleheader, including one to lead off Game 1.
Martin was stranded at third base in the first inning after Ivan Nova used only five pitches to get the next three batters on infield ground-outs.
He was stranded at third again in the sixth inning when Miguel Cabrera grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Tigers left a runner stranded at third base four times (first, third and sixth and ninth inning).
Martin had four of the game's seven highest exit velocities off the bat: 108, 107, 103 and 99 mph.
* Tigers catcher James McCann extended his hitting streak to eight games with a two-out double in the seventh inning.
Victor Reyes lined out to third base to end the inning.
* Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire executed his first double switch of the interleague series on Thursday, bringing in JaCoby Jones as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning when Daniel Stumpf entered to relieve Fulmer.
The move allowed Jones to hit ninth, in the pitcher's spot, which was due up in the eighth inning.
Double switches are used frequently in the National League but are a novelty for American League teams.
* Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was ejected by crew chief and second base umpire Mike Winters in the eighth inning. It was his 58th career ejection, 16 behind Gardenhire.
Hurdle was arguing Winters' call that Adam Frazier ran out of the base line to elude Niko Goodrum's tag at third base.
Fulmer was dazzling Thursday in what might have been some of the most definitive power-pitching in his three seasons with the Tigers.
Through his first turn in the order, he had more swinging strikes (14) than he had in any of his previous four starts (9).
The most noticeable difference came from his fastball, which had been problematic in earlier starts. Whereas he only picked up five total swings and misses on the pitch through four starts, Fulmer got 11 whiffs on the pitch Thursday.
Michael Fulmer allowed four hits over six shutout innings. He walked one and struck out a season-high nine. Fulmer had not struck out more than four in his previous four starts. He generated 23 swing-and-misses from the Pirates. Fulmer got a bit wild in the sixth inning and got checked out by an athletic trainer after giving up a two-out walk to Starling Marte.
The Tigers didn't score a run in the 14 innings that Fulmer pitched against the Pirates in two starts this season.
Fulmer allowed one run on four hits over eight innings in a 1-0 loss on April 1.
Martin tripled in the first, reached on an error in the sixth and reached on an infield single in the eighth.
McCann had a two-out double in the seventh to extend his hitting streak to eight games.
Reyes went 0-for-3.
Lefty Daniel Stumpf pitched a 1-2-3 seventh.
Joe Jim?nez allowed one hit and one intentional walk in one inning.
Alex Wilsonsucks got one out in the ninth before the home run.
Alex Wilson has allowed 4 home runs this season.
3/30 Polanco go-ahead in 13th
4/10 Perez go-ahead in 8th
4/22 Almonte go-ahead in 6th
4/26 Dickerson walkoff
