PITTSBURGH — Miguel Cabrera keeps delivering clutch knocks.
He lined a single up the middle in the eighth inning Wednesday, scoring Harold Castro from second and breaking a 1-1 tie as the Tigers completed the sweep of the short series with the Pirates 3-1 at PNC Park.
In 14 games since May 22, Cabrera is hitting .346 with six RBIs, three of them either tied or won the game in the eighth inning or later.
The Tigers had been held hitless since the third inning until Castro led off the eighth with a ringing single to left against right-handed reliever Wil Crowe. Jonathan Schoop followed liner into shallow right-center.
Pirates center fielder Bryan Reynolds made a terrific diving attempt for the ball and umpire Chris Segal called it a catch. The Tigers challenged and replays showed that the ball hit the ground and Reynolds trapped it.
Cabrera drove a 1-1 two-seam fastball (93 mph) straight up the middle and Castro scored without a play at the plate.
After relievers Andrew Chafin, Will Vest and Michael Fulmer dispatched the Pirates in three hitless innings with five strikeouts, Gregory Soto was summoned for the second straight game.
Soto worked around a walk and a single in the ninth for his 12th save.
The win put a bow on another good day at the office for Tigers' rookie starter Alex Faedo.
When you achieve something that hasn't been done in the big leagues since 2006, something that'd been done by just two others in the history of the game, you've done something special.
Faedo allowed one run and three hits Wednesday over five innings. It was the seventh straight start since he was recalled from Triple-A Toledo that he allowed two runs or less. According to research by Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first pitcher to go five or more innings and allow two runs or less in his first seven starts in the big leagues since Jered Weaver in 2006.
He is the third to do it since 1893. And if he gets one more, Faedo will tie Fernando Valenzuela for the MLB record (eight).
Not bad for a guy in his first full year of competition after Tommy John surgery. He tied his career-best with seven strikeouts. As has been the case, his slider was his most effective pitch. The Pirates swung at it 12 times and missed it nine. Faedo had 17 swings and misses total, with 10 called strikes.
The Tigers, though, are keeping him on a tight leash in terms of his workload. Coming off the surgery and not throwing a pitch in competition since 2019, his innings and pitches will be strictly governed.
Faedo turned a 1-1 tie over the to bullpen.
The Tigers hitters couldn't do much harm against Pirates' struggling starter Mitch Keller. They managed a run and four hits, punching out seven times in six innings against Keller, who until a week ago had been banished to the bullpen.
The one run came in the second inning. Daz Cameron drove one off the top of the wall in right field. His stand-up triple scored Eric Haase from first base.
Cameron made Haase run again in the top of the ninth, too. With two outs, Haase singled and Cameron lined a double into the corner in right. Haase scored the tack-on run.
The Pirates' run came in the fourth on a solo home run by rookie Jack Suwinski. It was probably the only mistake Faedo made. He left an 0-2 change-up over the plate and Suwinski put it into the seats in right field.
