Detroit Tigers defeat Pittsburgh Pirates in spring training, 8-7: Game thread replay
Grapefruit League: Detroit Tigers (1-3) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (1-2)
When: 1:05 p.m. Wednesday.
Where: Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.
TV: None.
Radio: WXYT-AM (1270).
First-pitch weather forecast: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees.
Probable starting pitchers: Tigers RHP Matt Manning (2-3, 3.43 ERA in 2022) vs. Pirates RHP Johan Oviedo (4-3, 3.21 ERA in 2022).
Tigers lineup:
CF Riley Greene
1B Spencer Torkelson
2B Cesar Hernandez
P Matt Manning
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Game notes: The Tigers’ brief three-game streak of multi-homer games — or even games with a single home run — came to an end in Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Florida. The Tigers have dropped three straight, all to AL East teams that finished with a winning record last season.
Today’s foe, the Pirates, meets none of those criteria: The Bucs lost 100 games for the second straight season and seemed destined to do it again in 2023. The big additions? First baseman Ji-Man Choi, 1B/DH Carlos Santana and LHP Rich Hill, who are an average of 33 years old, all on one-year deals. (Hill was a standout at Michigan whose time in Ann Arbor overlapped with Drew Henson, back in 2000-02; he turns 43 on March 11.)
Today’s Bucs starter, Johan Oviedo, is a good two decades younger than Hill, despite entering his fourth major-league season. Dealt to Pittsburgh at last season’s trade deadline, Oviedo struck out 28 and walked 16 while posting a 3.23 ERA over 30 2/3 innings for the Bucs. He has one career appearance against the Tigers, giving up six runs (two earned) in a June 22, 2021, loss for the St. Louis Cardinals. Two Tigers who could be happy to face Oviedo: Jonathan Schoop and Jake Rogers. Schoop homered off the righty back in 2001, while Rogers had a double.
The Tigers, meanwhile, send right-hander Matt Manning to the mound for his spring debut. The righty missed more than three months with biceps tendinitis, then returned for 10 starts in which he struck out 44 and walked 19 over 55 innings. He was scratched from his final September start with a forearm strain but was deemed fully healthy back in November.
The Tigers continue their March slate on Thursday with a visit from the Orioles, who beat them in Sarasota on Sunday. The Pirates head home to Bradenton to host the N.Y. Yankees.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers defeat Pirates in spring, 8-7: Game thread replay
