The Tigers' three-run eighth made it 12-7 and allowed the visitors to hold on.

Leonys Martin, James McCann, Nicholas Castellanos (4-for-5, four RBIs) and Jeimer Candelario hit homers for Detroit, which is 6-3 in its past nine. Miguel Cabrera added four hits.

Colin Moran and Francisco Cervelli hit homers for Pittsburgh, which had 14 hits but lost its fifth straight. Cervelli had a career-high six RBIs.

Tigers right-hander Jordan Zimmermann gave up six runs (three earned) on six hits in three innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. Things weren't a lot better for relievers Warwick Saupold, Daniel Stumpf (1-0), Buck Farmer, Alex Wilson and Joe Jimenez. Shane Greene pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

It was the second rough outing in a row for Pittsburgh right-hander Jameson Taillon (2-2), who gave up seven runs and 10 hits with no walks and three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. Over his first three starts, he had a 0.89 ERA. After his past two, his ERA has mushroomed to 4.91.

Taillon and relievers Kyle Crick and Edgar Santana each gave up a homer to the first batter they faced. Richard Rodriguez and Enny Romero also worked out of the Pittsburgh bullpen.

The game got off to an odd start when Martin, the leadoff batter, fouled a ball off his midsection and spent several minutes in pain. He then smacked a homer to center field. JaCoby Jones added an RBI single that inning for a 2-0 Detroit lead.

Pittsburgh scored four runs in the third for a 6-3 lead, highlighted by Cervelli's three-run shot.

Detroit answered with five runs in the fourth for an 8-6 lead. McCann hit a solo homer, and Castellanos hit a two-run shot.

Cervelli's RBI single in the fifth made it 8-7 before Candelario hit a solo shot in the sixth to make it 9-7.

In the eighth, Detroit pushed it to 12-7 on a wild pitch, Castellanos' RBI single and Jose Iglesias's sacrifice fly. Pittsburgh pulled to within 12-10 in the bottom of that inning, and the Tigers scored once more in the ninth.

--Field Level Media