Pittsburgh Pirates

Pirates face Tigers in another series vs. non-contender (Aug 07, 2017)

Published Aug. 6, 2017 11:24 p.m. ET

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates' tour de also-rans continues Monday night against the Detroit Tigers.

If the Pirates (54-57) can take better advantage of their schedule, it could lead to much better positioning in the National League Central.

The Tigers (51-59) play two at PNC Park before the teams shift to Detroit for two games in a home-and-home setup. After that, the Pirates play another struggling team, the Toronto Blue Jays.

The last time Pittsburgh faced a team in solid contention for the playoffs was July 17-20, a four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers that was the Pirates' fourth straight series win.

Since then, though, Pittsburgh lost series against the San Francisco Giants, San Diego and the Cincinnati Reds before Sunday, when a 5-4, 12-inning victory gave the Pirates a weekend series win against the Padres.

"It had been a while since we had one," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said of series victories. "We were on such a nice roll through that one stretch. Then we got on the other side of things.

"These guys love to play, and they've got all kinds of fight in them."

The win Sunday coupled with Chicago's loss to Washington left Pittsburgh 4 1/2 games behind the division-leading Cubs.

Right-hander Trevor Williams (4-4, 4.47 ERA) is scheduled to start for Pittsburgh on Monday, the first time he will face Detroit.

Williams has given up two earned runs or fewer in each of his past four home starts, including a no-decision Wednesday against Cincinnati, when he gave up two runs and six hits, walked two and struck out six in 5 1/3 innings.

The Tigers are six games off the pace for the second American League wild card after getting clobbered at Baltimore 12-3 on Sunday. They had won six of eight before that.

Detroit has won nine of its past 15 road games after starting the season with a 15-28 (.349) record away from Comerica Park.

The Tigers missed a chance to win three consecutive series for the first time since April.

Right-hander Jordan Zimmermann (7-8, 5.35 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday for Detroit.

Zimmermann is coming off perhaps his finest performance of the season. He gave up six hits in seven shutout innings Wednesday -- his first scoreless outing in more than a year -- as Detroit beat the New York Yankees 2-0. He struck out six with no walks.

Zimmermann has pitched seven innings in back-to-back starts for the first time since June 2016. He has been strong in the past month, since he gave up five runs and eight hits in three innings on July 7 in the Tigers' 11-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

"I feel good," Zimmermann said. "Other than the one start ... I've been pretty good. I feel strong, and the ball is coming out of my hand much better than it did in the first half of the season. I hope it continues."

In three career games against Pittsburgh, Zimmermann is 1-2 with a 4.00 ERA and 14 strikeouts.