Pirates try for three straight over 'rival' Tigers (Aug 09, 2017)
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers, who are not really rivals, will continue their annual interleague rivalry (or designated opponent) series Wednesday when the scene shifts to Comerica Park in Detroit.
Ivan Nova (10-8, 3.66 ERA) is the Pirates' scheduled starter. The right-hander is 0-2 with 6.66 ERA in five career appearances (four starts) against the Tigers.
Nova is set to face righty Justin Verlander (7-7, 4.20 ERA), who is 4-2 with a 4.25 ERA in seven career starts against the Pirates.
Verlander is coming off a Friday win at Baltimore, where he allowed two runs in seven innings. The same night, Nova gave up four runs (one earned) in six innings during a no-decision against the San Diego Padres.
Back home after a nine-game trip, the Tigers have lost four straight, including the first two games of the series to the Pirates, after winning four out of five. A wild-card berth is slowly fading from view.
"We ended (the trip) on a sour note," Tigers catcher James McCann said after Detroit's 6-3 loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. "We started off playing really well, and it would be nice to carry it through the entire road trip. But that's the past, and now we've have to move on to the homestand and get back to playing winning baseball."
Reflective of their personalities (if not the performance of their teams), the opposing managers differ in their enthusiasm for the annual series between the clubs. The Pirates' Clint Hurdle, whose default demeanor generally is upbeat, likes the home-and-home arrangement with the Tigers -- two sets of two games, one set in each city, as opposed to interleague foes typically playing separate three-game series home and away.
"For me, they're kind of like pop quizzes," Hurdle said. "You don't get to do 'em over. That's the hard part. This is it. You get this quick snapshot and go.
"It's a short window of opportunity. The scouts play a vital role. I think they put more time into it than we do. We'll put four games into it, and these scouts are watching them a week, 10 days."
Hurdle is exuberant for another reason. He was born in in Big Rapids, Mich., about 200 miles northwest of Detroit. His family moved to Florida when he was 3 years old.
"I'm a big fan of going back to Detroit," Hurdle said. "I grew up in Michigan. I loved it as a kid. I'm looking forward to it."
The Pirates are making a run at the National League Central title. Brad Ausmus' Tigers, however, are barely in wild-card contention, and the status of the fourth-year manager appears shaky beyond this season.
"For us, it's kind of like just another series," he said. "It makes a little more sense if you have a rivalry. It's New York and New York and Chicago and Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, L.A. and L.A. Pittsburgh and Detroit, it's not like they're natural rivals."
That prompted a rare reason to smile.
"San Diego and Seattle do it, don't they?," he said. "Isn't that their natural rival? They play every year. Just like we play Pittsburgh every year."
