Pittsburgh Pirates vs Detroit Tigers

Detroit struck first. Rookie Brett Callahan, promoted Saturday, crushed a 393-foot solo home run to right field off Ashcraft with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. It was Callahan's first major-league home run and gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates answered immediately in the bottom half. Esmerlyn Valdez drew a four-pitch walk, and Cruz — activated from the 60-day injured list earlier that day after missing 73 games with a fractured left hand — pulverised a 2-2 knuckle curve from Keider Montero 422 feet to centre field for his 15th home run. The two-run blast put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1.

Pittsburgh kept the pressure on. Jake Mangum reached on a swinging-bunt infield single, advanced to third on Rafael Flores Jr.'s double, and scored on a Jared Triolo grounder after a successful replay review overturned an initial out call at the plate. Spencer Horwitz followed with an RBI single to score Flores, pushing the lead to 3-1.

The Pirates added insurance in the eighth. Triolo led off with a single, moved up on a sacrifice, and scored on Bryan Reynolds' RBI single off reliever Enmanuel De Jesus.

The game swung on Cruz's at-bat in the bottom of the fifth. The Tigers had seized early momentum on Callahan's home run half an inning earlier, but Cruz's 422-foot answer — his first home run since June 2 at Houston — flipped both the lead and the energy in one swing. It was the 81st home run for the Pirates at PNC Park this season, tying the single-season franchise record set in 2003.

Braxton Ashcraft, SP, Pirates — The right-hander (13-5) allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts and zero walks over eight innings, throwing 61 of 80 pitches for strikes. He retired the first 10 batters he faced and became the first Pirates pitcher since A.J. Burnett in 2012 to follow a complete game with an eight-inning outing.

Oneil Cruz, CF, Pirates — In his first game since fracturing his left hand on June 6 at Atlanta, the 6-foot-7 centre fielder went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, making a running catch in right-centre field to go with the decisive swing.

Brett Callahan, RF, Tigers — The rookie became the first Saint Joseph's University product to homer in the Major Leagues. His solo shot accounted for Detroit's only run.

Mason Montgomery, RP, Pirates — Struck out two batters in a clean ninth inning, touching 100.4 mph, to earn his fifth save.

Player of the match: Braxton Ashcraft.

The Pirates out-hit the Tigers 6-5, but the decisive gap was efficiency. Ashcraft needed only 80 pitches to cover eight innings (10.0 per inning), while Montero laboured through five innings and 75 pitches. Pittsburgh scored all four of its runs with two outs, capitalising on a Tigers defensive miscue at the plate that extended the fifth-inning rally. Ashcraft did not walk a single batter and induced the soft contact that kept his pitch count low throughout.

The Pirates improved to 63-66 (fourth in the NL Central) and have won four of their last six. The Tigers dropped to 61-66 (fourth in the AL Central). Cruz's return adds a middle-of-the-order bat for Pittsburgh's stretch run, and Ashcraft's sustained dominance — a complete game followed by eight innings of one-run ball over his last two starts — gives the rotation an ace-calibre anchor. The Pirates face the Tigers again on Wednesday, August 19, at PNC Park for game two of the series (first pitch 23:40 BST).

Cruz's heroics grab the headlines, but Ashcraft's eight innings of one-run ball were the foundation. With their centre fielder back and their right-hander in career-best form, the Pirates — though still below .500 — demonstrated a one-two punch that could make them troublesome down the stretch.