After a brilliant outing by James McDonald Thursday night, AJ Burnett took the hill for the Pirates and decided he wanted to win his seventh straight outing. AJ pitched six solid innings of two hit ball, while striking out four. He worked out of a huge jam in the sixth inning getting two of the most feared hitters in the league, in Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, to ground into a double play and pop out with nobody out. Jared Hughes allowed the only run of the game for the Pirates pitching staff, and was followed by Juan Cruz, Jason Grilli, and Joel Hanrahan who all threw scoreless outings for the Bucs.
Neil Walker and Garrett Jones drove in runs in the bottom of the first, and the only other runs for the Pirates came in the second inning on a two-error play by the Tigers. Rod Barajas had two hits and Andrew McCutchen continued his hot hitting with three hits of his own.
The Pirates now have a chance to win the series tomorrow and Sunday with a 4:05 start tomorrow, a game that will be televised on FOX.