DETROIT TIGERS NOTES:

TIGERS DROP SERIES OPENER IN PITTSBURGH: The Tigers lost to the Pirates, 4-1, last night at PNC Park. Akil Baddoo went 1×3 and drove in Detroit’s only run of the game, while Javier Báez, Miguel Cabrera, Riley Greene, Zach McKinstry and Spencer Torkelson each had one hit. Matt Manning started for the Tigers and took the loss, giving up four runs on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Chasen Shreve and Trey Wingenter each threw a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.

MIGGY STAYS HOT: Miguel Cabrera went 1×3 in last night’s game, recording the 3,138th hit of his big league career. He is now just three hits shy of tying Tony Gwynn (3,141) for 20th in MLB history. Since May 30, Cabrera is batting .321/.397/.431 with nine doubles, one home run and 12 RBI. Among American League players with at least 100 plate appearances in that span, he ranks eighth in batting average and ninth in on-base percentage.

ON THE ROAD: The Tigers are 1-3 on their current five-game road trip, which includes three games at Miami (1-2) and two games at Pittsburgh (0- 1). Detroit is 25-30 on the road this season. The Tigers are hitting .223/.291/.362 on the road this season, while the pitching staff has a 4.26 ERA (475.2IP/225ER).

TIGERS AND PIRATES: The Tigers and Pirates conclude their season series this afternoon. Pittsburgh has won two of the first three games from Detroit this season. In 2022, the Tigers went 3-1 against the Pirates, including sweeping a two-game series in Pittsburgh.

INTERLEAGUE ACTION: The Tigers continue their interleague schedule today against the Pirates. Detroit is 17-19 against National League foes this season, including a 5-4 record against NL Central teams. The Tigers have finished with a winning record against NL opponents in each of the last two seasons.

ON DECK: The Tigers are back at Comerica Park on Friday to open a three-game series against the Rays. The two teams opened the season against each other with Tampa Bay completing a three-game sweep. The Tigers went 2-5 against the Rays last season, including a 1-3 record at Comerica Park.

INJURY REHAB UPDATE: Will Vest began an injury rehab assignment with Triple A Toledo last night, allowing two runs on one hit with one walk and two strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning. Vest has been sidelined since June 27 with a right lower leg strain.

TIGERS ON THE IL:

• LHP Tyler Alexander (left lat/shoulder strain, 60-day IL on July 4, retroactive to July 3)
• LHP Matthew Boyd (left elbow sprain, 60-day IL on June 27)
• RHP Mason Englert (left hip tightness, 15-day IL on July 24, retroactive to July 23)
• OF Austin Meadows (anxiety, 60-day IL on April 8, retroactive to April 7)
• RHP Casey Mize (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on February 17)
• RHP Freddy Pacheco (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on March 27)
• RHP Spencer Turnbull (neck discomfort, 60-day IL on May 12, retroactive to May 7)
• RHP Will Vest (right lower leg strain, 15-day IL on June 27)

TODAY’S TIGERS STARTING PITCHER

57 Eduardo Rodriguez • 6-5, 2.95 ERA (88.1IP/29ER)

• Rodriguez will make his 16th start of the season today in the series finale at Pittsburgh.
• Took the loss in his last start on July 25 vs. Los Angeles (AL), allowing four runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 4.2 innings.
• Has made two starts in his career against the Pirates and has a 0-1 record with a 5.23 ERA (10.1IP/6ER) and 13 strikeouts…will be making his first career appearance at PNC Park today, the 27th different active ballpark he has pitched in.
• Among American League pitchers with at least 80.0 innings pitched, he ranks fifth in ERA (2.95), WHIP (1.03) and FIP (3.01) and eighth in opponent batting average (.216).
• Had six consecutive starts with at least 5.0 innings pitched and one run-or-less allowed from April 12-May 10, the longest streak of his career, and tied with Michael Fulmer (May 21-June 17, 2016) and Al Benton (April 19-May 20, 1945) for the second-longest streak in franchise history…over that stretch, he compiled a 4-0 record with a 0.43 ERA (41.2IP/2ER) and 41 strikeouts.
• Since 2018, he has a .659 winning percentage, which ranks eighth among all active Major League pitchers over that span (min. 100 starts).

PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:

THE PIRATES:..opened their brief two-game series against the Tigers with a 4-1 win last night…Have gone 3-1 heading into the finale of their five-game homestand against Philadelphia and Detroit…Have gone 7-4 in their last 11 games since losing each of their first five games following the All-Star break…Have won back-to-back series for the first time since May 29 to June 4 against the Giants and Cardinals.

ABOUT TODAY’S STARTER: Osvaldo Bido gets the start this afternoon in the finale of this brief two-game series against the Tigers…Today will be Bido’s first appearance since July 22 against the Angels when he followed starter Ryan Borucki and worked 3.0 scoreless innings while picking up his second win.

HITTING THE ROAD: The Pirates will depart for Milwaukee following today’s game to begin a four-game series tomorrow night… The Pirates dropped two of three games against the Brewers at PNC Park from June 30 to July 2…The Bucs were also swept at American Family Field in their trip from June 16-18.

LOVE FOR LIOVER: Liover Peguero connected for his third home run of the season last night as part of the team’s three-run second ining…Peguero is now 7-for-18 with a double, three home runs and eight RBI in his last seven games since going 0-for-10 in his first three games after being promoted from Indianapolis on July 17.

ROOKIE RBI: Three of Pittsburgh’s four runs last night were driven in by rookies Endy Rodriguez and Liover Peguero…Saturday night against the Phillies, all seven of Pittsburgh’s runs were driven in by rookies Endy Rodríguez, Liover Peguero and Alika Williams…Since RBI became an official stat in 1920, the Pirates had never had a game where they scored seven-plus runs with all of them driven in by rookies.

HOMESTAND HIGHLIGHTS: The Pirates are 3-1 heading into the finale of this five-game homestand against the Phillies and Tigers…Following a brief four-game road trip to Milwaukee beginning tomorrow, the Pirates will return to PNC Park for a sevengame homestand against Atlanta and Cincinnati that gets underway Monday night.

FAST TIMES AT PNC PARK: Last night’s game time of 2 hours and 4 minutes was the second-shortest game at PNC Park this season (the fastest game this year at home was 1 hour and 55 minutes on May 8 vs. Colorado)…Pittsburgh’s 51 nine-game games at home this year have averaged 2 hours and 37 minutes…Last season Pittsburgh’s 72 nine-inning home games averaged 3 hours and 4 minutes.

CHECKING THE BROOM CLOSET: Today the Pirates will go for their sixth sweep of the season and first since taking all three of their games against the Padres here at PNC Park from June 27-29…Pittsburgh’s last sweep of the Tigers at PNC Park came in 2017, which was also a two-game series.

A PROMOTION IS IN ORDER: Yesterday the Pirates promoted 2022 first-round draft pick Termarr Johnson to High-A Greensboro… Johnson ranked third in the Florida State League last month in OBP (.468), first in walks (30), tied for third in home runs (six), tied for fifth in total bases (42) and tied for eighth in RBI (18)…He also paced all of MiLB with 30 walks…From June 1 to the end of last month, Johnson’s 12 home runs were also the most among all players at the Low-A level…Johnson is currently rated 97th among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects.

GREAT WHEN LEADING AFTER EIGHT: The Pirates are 43-0 this season when leading after eight innings…The only other teams in MLB that have yet to lose this season when leading after eight innings are the Giants (50-0) and Twins (44-0)…Special thanks to the Elias Sports Bureau.

PEN POWER: Pittsburgh’s bullpen tossed 2.0 scoreless innings Tuesday…Since July 18, Pittsburgh’s bullpen has a 2.78 ERA (45.1ip/14er) while recording a .178 batting average against (28-for-157)…In addition, Pirates relievers have allowed just five of their 26 inherited runners to score in that time.

THE RENEGADE: David Bednar recorded his 22nd save of the season and converted his 18th straight save opportunity of the 2023 campaign on Tuesday…The two-time All-Star comes into today with the fourth-lowest ERA (1.24) in all of MLB among relievers, trailing only Felix Bautista (0.87), Josh Hader (0.89) and Tim Mayza (1.22)…Bednar also has at least one strikeout in 12 straight appearances dating back to June 29, racking up a total of 22 punchouts in 13.2 innings during that time.

STARTING PITCHER – 70 – RHP OSVALDO BIDO

OSVALDO BIDO: The 27-year-old righthander will make his ninth appearance (seventh start) today…He tossed 3.0 scoreless innings of relief while earning the win in his last appearance on 7/22 against the Angels…He had a no-decision (2.2ip/3r) in his last start; an 8-4 10-inning loss on 7/16 vs. San Francisco…He earned his first career win (1.1ip/0r) on 7/9 while pitching in relief in Arizona…He went 3-4 with a 4.55 ERA in 12 appearances (10 starts) this season at Indianapolis…Was signed by the Pirates as a non-drafted free agent on 3/15/17.

VS. DETROIT: Has never faced the Tigers