Corey Dickerson's walk-off homer lifts Pirates past Tigers
A day after witnessing 34 runs, the Pirates needed only one.
Outfielder Corey Dickerson broke a scoreless tie with the first walk-off homer of his big league career, a ninth-inning blast to defeat the Detroit Tigers, 1-0, Thursday afternoon at PNC Park in the finale of a three-game interleague series.
But even that one run wasn't a sure thing.
Umpires reviewed the long flyball to right that a front-row fan caught at the railing before confirming it as a homer.
Ivan Nova pitched eight scoreless innings, and Tigers starter Michael Fulmer threw six scoreless, stifling the offense displayed Wednesday when the teams split a high-scoring doubleheader at PNC Park.
Thursday belonged to the pitchers.
“Score a run anyway possible,” Dickerson said. “Fulmer's a really good pitcher, and Nova pitched unbelievable today.”
Nova, who forced 13 groundball outs, allowed just six hits, no walks and struck out five in his longest outing since last May. The right-hander was efficient from the start — with a seven-pitch first inning as proof — and needed only 93 pitches to complete eight innings. He threw 63 strikes.
“Nova was Nova today,” catcher Francisco Cervelli said. “When you see guys swinging, and when you see him pitching in the eighth with 70-some pitches, that's Nova. Make people swing. Keep the ball down. Be able to control corner and read hitters. That's him. He's getting better and better. He's back.”
The quality start was the fourth in a row for Nova.
“The sinker was working really, really good,” Nova said. “We kept throwing it and made sure we didn't go too much in the middle.”
Felipe Vazquez (1-0), who relieved Nova in the ninth, escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam for the win.
After a five-game losing streak, the Pirates (14-11) have won two in a row.
“It's a shot in the arm,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We've been scuffling. We won the series, and you get (to see) the dean of your staff step up.”
The Pirates managed just six hits against lefty Fulmer and three relievers. Fulmer allowed four hits and one walk in six innings while striking out nine. Alex Wilson (0-3) took the loss.
Dickerson remembered hitting a walk-off single with the Colorado Rockies but said this walk-off homer was his first since playing for Single-A Ashville in 2011.
The Pirates had a chance earlier in the eighth but stranded two runners when Adam Frazier was called out for leaving the base path to avoid a tag at third. Hurdle argued the call and was ejected for the first time this season.
“We've seen Josh Harrison get out of some things, and when you watch the replay of that, (the umpires said) he's not out of the baseline,” Hurdle said. “But you watch a replay of this, and he's out of the baseline. It goes back to interpretation. That's the hard part.”
The defense was solid behind Nova, led by third baseman Colin Moran and shortstop Sean Rodriguez, who combined for 12 assists and four putouts. Moran threw out seven runners, and Rodriguez eliminated five, including a diving stop in the ninth to keep the game scoreless.
“A lot of good stuff happened for us (defensively),” Hurdle said. “When Nova puts the ball on the ground, guys are going to stay involved, they'll stay in games, they're ready to make plays.“
Three times Nova and his defense stranded a runner at third.
Leonys Martin tripled to lead off the first but stayed there as Nova forced consecutive groundouts by Dixon Machado, Miguel Cabrera and Nicholas Castellanos to escape.
In the third, Detroit's Jose Iglesias singled, advanced on a wild pitch and reached third on a groundout before Nova coaxed another ground ball to escape.
In the sixth, with runners on first and third, Nova forced Cabrera into an inning-ending double play to keep the game scoreless.
“To get Cabrera in two different situations with a runner on third and one out, that doesn't happen very often,” Hurdle said. “But he's the kind of guy who can do it.”
Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.
