Detroit Tigers vs Pittsburgh Pirates — Mar 18, 2026 | AI Prediction & Stats

Paul Skenes draws the start for Pittsburgh and opposes Detroit’s left-handed ace Tarik Skubal. Both pitchers open with electric fastballs, but the Tigers scratch out a first-inning run when Riley Greene legs out a leadoff triple and Spencer Torkelson plates him with a sacrifice fly. Skubal keeps the Pirates quiet for two frames before the lineup times his slider in the third: consecutive opposite-field singles by Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds set the table, and Oneil Cruz splits the right-center gap for a two-run double that swings the lead. Detroit evens it in the fourth on Javier Báez’s line-drive homer off a hanging Skenes curve, yet the rookie settles, attacking with high fastballs and a late-breaking slider to retire eight of the next nine. Pittsburgh squeezes out a sixth-inning run when Andrew McCutchen works a walk, steals second on the first pitch, and scores on Henry Davis’s flare into shallow left, exploiting Detroit’s aggressive infield positioning. Both bullpens take over in the seventh—Colin Holderman bridging to David Bednar for the Pirates, José Cisnero and Alex Faedo for the Tigers. The decisive blow comes in the eighth: Reynolds draws a four-pitch walk, steals second, and Hayes rifles a double down the left-field line. Cruz follows with a sharp grounder that sneaks past Torkelson, bringing Hayes home for a 5-3 cushion. Detroit’s ninth-inning rally falls just short. Bednar yields a two-out RBI single to Kerry Carpenter but blows a 97-mph heater past Torkelson to lock down the save. Pittsburgh’s recent head-to-head dominance (five straight wins) continues thanks to timely hitting against the Tigers’ middle relief and airtight late-inning defense, while Detroit’s superior season record is muted by lingering bullpen inconsistencies and a cold stretch from the middle of the order.