DETROIT -- Francisco Liriano tossed seven scoreless innings, and a four-run ninth weathered a late comeback attempt as the Pirates completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers with an 8-4 win on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park.Rajai Davis lined Liriano's first pitch into center field for a single, but the southpaw allowed just four hits the rest of the way. In the fourth inning, Detroit second baseman Ian Kinsler and first baseman Miguel Cabrera reached with one out, but Liriano worked out of his biggest jam of the day by inducing groundouts from Victor Martinez and Yoenis Cespedes. 
Meanwhile, the Buccos incrementally built their lead during the middle frames, tallying one run each in the fourth through seventh. Starling Marte's RBI single in the seventh seemed crucial an inning later, when Tigers right fielder J.D. Martinez's three-run home run brought his club to within a run, but the Pirates thwarted the comeback threat by plating four runs on as many hits off reliever Bruce Rondon in the ninth.MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDGone big, going small: The day after including four homers in a 21-hit attack, the Pirates became conservative behind Liriano. After opening the fifth with consecutive walks, the Bucs shrugged off a potential big inning by having hot Jordy Mercer (15-for-40) sacrifice, then Andrew McCutchen got one run in on a sacrifice fly.No easy relief: The reliable Rondon entered a 4-3 game in the ninth, but he let any chance of a Detroit comeback quickly slip away. Mercer singled and McCutchen doubled him home, then the hard-throwing righty allowed a single to Marte and later a two-run double to Neil Walker. The two-bagger capped a seven-RBI series for the second baseman.Hail Mercer: A frequent baseball unraveling -- starter shines, his relief quickly falters -- was avoided by Mercer's athletic grab of Victor Martinez's popup into "no man's land" with two on and no outs in the eighth. J.D. Martinez homered later in the inning.Stating his case: Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has suggested J.D. Martinez should be an All-Star, and the right fielder continued to demonstrate why. His three-run homer -- his 21st of the year -- into the right-center-field seats cut Detroit's deficit to one and briefly thrilled the crowd of 34,680.
Tom Singer/ MLB.com
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