Detroit led for most of the night, and then it didn't. Rafael Flores tied the game with a home run in the ninth inning, and Brandon Lowe followed with one of his own to send Pittsburgh past the Tigers 4-3 in a finish that turned in an instant.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DET | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| PIT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Flores was at the center of it all, going 2-for-2 with two home runs and two RBIs. His first homer, a solo shot to left field in the seventh, cut Detroit's lead to 3-2. He came back up in the ninth and hit another to left field, this time knotting the score at 3-3. Lowe, who finished 1-for-3 with two walks, delivered the game's final blow with a home run to right field that put Pittsburgh ahead for good.
The Tigers had built their lead steadily. Kevin McGonigle's sacrifice fly to left fielder Bryan Reynolds in the third scored Hao Yu Lee to tie the game at 1-1. Detroit then moved ahead in the fifth when Gleyber Torres singled to center field to score Max Clark, and McGonigle followed with a double to center that brought home Hao Yu Lee for a 3-1 cushion, though Torres was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the same play. But in the ninth, Flores and Lowe erased it in back-to-back at-bats, with Lowe's homer marked as the game's decisive go-ahead play.
Detroit starter Jackson Jobe worked into the sixth, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits with 3 strikeouts and 3 walks over 5.1 innings, but the bullpen behind him could not hold the late lead. Kenley Jansen took the loss after allowing 2 runs on 2 hits in just 0.2 innings. Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes was rougher in his own start, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits over 4.1 innings, but the Pirates' bullpen did not allow a run the rest of the way, with Mason Montgomery earning the win after a scoreless inning with 2 strikeouts.
The win was Pittsburgh's second straight, improving the Pirates to 63-66. Detroit dropped its second consecutive game and fell to 61-66. Both Oneil Cruz and Lowe entered the night in range of milestones, with Cruz sitting at 95 career stolen bases and Lowe at 491 career runs, each still short of the 100 and 500 marks.