Another pitchers’ duel that needed a run.

Pirates 1, Tigers 0

This game was many things. It featured good pitching led by Doug Fister’s (5-2, 68.2 IP, 3.28 ERA, 2.64 FIP, 2.3 WAR) 7 strong innings of 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, and 12 K baseball and it also featured a play in which Travis Snider made two outs and was called for neither (On a popout to 2B, Snider, running from first, passed 2B, didn’t retouch, and was tagged out returning to first). This game was also the first one in which Jhonny Peralta was ejected from play in his 1,300+ career games. His offense was disagreeing with a called third strike and apparently gesturing slightly with his hand while walking to shortstop. Additionally, this game featured Doug Fister hitting a batter, but also walking one, updating his HBP and BB totals to 12 and 11, respectively. As you may recall, no one has ever hit more than they have walked in a full season:

But this game was also another 0-0 extra inning affair that ended in the 11th inning with a Pirates run. With the loss, the Tigers fall to 29-23 and lose the four game set with the Pirates. They will head to Baltimore for three starting on Friday and will be led by Max Scherzer (7-0, 68.1 IP, 3.42 ERA, 2.39 FIP, 2.4 WAR) who is looking to build on a couple of excellent starts (see here, and also here). Fister’s great start also gives the Tigers 4 of the top 8 pitchers in MLB by WAR and 4 of the top 6 in the AL. Also of interest to Tigers fans might be yesterday’s post on the team’s increase use of the changeup over the last few seasons.

The Moment: Fister makes a diving stop in the 6th.