Tigers hit 4 homers in 1st inning, drill Pirates 11-5

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Niko Goodrum, Miguel Cabrera, C.J. Cron and Jeimer Candelario all hit home runs in the first inning against Pittsburgh’s Derek Holland as the Detroit Tigers drilled the Pirates 11-5 on Saturday.

Detroit sent four of Holland's first 11 pitches over the fence at PNC Park to propel the Tigers to another big offensive outburst against reeling Pittsburgh. A night after a 17-13 win in 11 innings, Detroit came out swinging and sent the Pirates their ninth loss in their last 10 games.

Nine of the Tigers' 16 hits went for extra bases. Their first-inning deluge marked the first they'd gone deep four times in the same inning since they did it on June 1, 2013, against Baltimore.

Cabrera got three hits, including his 481st career home run. The 37-year-old also drove in three runs to move him past Hall of Famer Jim Thome and into 24th on the all-time list with 1,701. Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson is next with 1,702.

A night after driving in five runs, Goodrum homered and doubled. Jonathan Schoop added three hits and JaCoby Jones turned aside a Pittsburgh rally when he led off the sixth with his fourth home run of the season after the Pirates had drawn within 6-5.

Ivan Nova (1-0) nearly let a big early lead slip away. The veteran, who played two-plus seasons for the Pirates from 2016-18, gave up five runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

Kevin Newman tied a career-high with four hits and drove in two runs for Pittsburgh.

The Tigers arrived in Pittsburgh hitting .205 on the season. The team's average has now risen to .239 following two games against the Pirates' battered pitching staff.

Holland, who made the team out of summer camp after signing a minor league deal in the offseason, needed to eat up some innings after the Pirates churned...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Tigers-hit-4-homers-in-1st-inning-drill-Pirates-15469684.php