Pittsburgh Pirates at Detroit Tigers

· Major League Baseball

Pittsburgh Pirates

81-80, 37-43 Away

Final
3 - 4

Detroit Tigers

76-85, 42-38 Home

Justin Verlander makes teary farewell to 21-year career as Tigers rally to beat Pirates 4-3

Justin Verlander embraced by family in touching final mound visit

Eduardo Valencia hit a game-ending, two-run homer off Mason Montgomery (6-4) in a three-run ninth that included Kevin McGonigle’s RBI groundout. Valencia became the first Detroit rookie with a walk-off homer while trailing since Lou Whitaker on July 28, 1978, according to Major League Baseball.

Verlander allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings with one walk and six strikeouts in his 91-pitch outing. The 43-year-old right-hander was making his second start of the year and first since March 30 in a season derailed by a sore hip and hamstring injury.

After Brandon Lowe hit a foul popup starting the sixth, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch walked from the dugout toward the plate and pointed toward the seats. Genevieve Verlander, wearing a Tigers jersey with her dad’s name and number, sprinted to the mound and hugged her father, who reached down to embrace her and started shaking and sobbing.

Verlander finished 266-159 in 557 starts with a 3.33 ERA and 3,560 strikeouts, eighth on the career list.

Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead on solo homers by Brandon Lowe in the fourth and Nick Gonzales.

Javier Báez hit an RBI double in the sixth, and Bryan Reynolds extended Pittsburgh's lead to 3-1 with a run-scoring triple in the eighth.

Jacob Waguespack (2-2) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

Pittsburgh (81-80) needs one win for its first winning season since 2018.

The Pirates' Kirby Yates made his first career start after 517 relief appearances, then said he is retiring. The 39-year-old right-hander allowed two hits over 1 2/3 innings.

Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz left in the third inning. He fell awkwardly while trying to field McGonigle’s bloop single in the first.

Up next Tigers RHP River Ryan (0-0, 0.00 ERA) and Pirates RHP Jared Jones (5-6, 3.87) start Sunday in the final game before Comerica Park's name changes to Fifth Third Park for 2027.

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Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Valencia homered to left center (400 feet), Lee scored.
	9th Inning	McGonigle grounded out to second, Clark scored, Lee to third.
	9th Inning	Lee doubled to right, Clark to third.
	9th Inning	Clark singled to left.
	9th Inning	Báez struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Montgomery relieved Weaver

Statistics

PIT		DET
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	2
9	Ground Balls	13
8	Strikeouts	12
3	Runs Batted In	4
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
9	Hits	10
0	Stolen Bases	0
1	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	4
0	Ground Into Double Play	2
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
34	At Bats	35
2	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
9	Runners Left On Base	26
1	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	3
17	Fly Balls	10
1	Caught Stealing	0
138	Pitches	169
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	1
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
18	Total Bases	16
35	Plate Appearances	40
324.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
4	Extra Base Hits	4
4.8	Runs Created	5.5
.265	Batting Average	.286
.000	Pinch Hit Average	1.000
.529	Slugging Percentage	.457
.265	Secondary Average	.257
.286	On Base Percentage	.375
.815	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.832
0.5	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.3
5.0	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	5.5
31.5	Batter Rating	35.0
17.0	At Bats Per Home Run	35.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.94	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.23
.265	Isolated Power	.171
0.13	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.25
.029	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.075
.000	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.029
6.0	Runs Produced	8.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.4
83.8	MLB Rating	85.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0