Hill brings 'A' game with six dominant one-hit innings 

DETROIT -- Rich Hill? Just call him Tiger King.

The 43-year-old was untouchable in an 8-0 win over Detroit on Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park, going six scoreless innings and surrendering only one hit while striking out seven.

It was clear from the start that Hill had his “A” game working: after a leadoff single on a grounder off his glove, Hill struck out the next five batters. That was the only hit he allowed; two more Tigers reached base, both on walks. Hill dazzled Detroit with his fastball/curveball combination, the heater topping out at 89.8 mph and the curve registering as low as 64.6 mph.

“He was really good, and it was a start we needed,” said manager Derek Shelton. “All right-handed lineup with some good hitters -- I thought it was the best curveball he’s had all year. … He got some funky swings today.”

Sixty-six of Hill’s 84 pitches were curves (39) or fastballs (27), accounting for 79% of his total usage. He generated 12 whiffs, utilizing every trick in his extensive book: changing arm angles, mixing up his timing and dominating hitters psychologically, tempting them with floating curves before firing in fastballs that, after the slow stuff, might as well have been rocket-powered. Of Hill’s 27 fastballs, the Tigers put only one in play, a pop-out from Jake Rogers in the third.

“He’s out there playing a cat-and-mouse game,” said catcher Austin Hedges. “When you’re going to be a curveball/fastball guy, mostly two pitches, you’ve got to be pretty creative with how you’re doing it. So for him to be able to change the velocities on his curveball just helps his fastball play up more.”

In seven career starts throwing to Hedges, Hill has a 2.65 ERA.

“I’ve been lucky enough to catch him now enough times where I feel very, very comfortable with what his stuff is going to do,” Hedges said. “I tell him, ‘Whenever you want to drop down, change slots, change speeds, just go for it.’”

Perhaps Hill’s most memorable moment of the game, though, didn’t come on a strikeout at all. With two outs in the second, having struck out five batters in a row, Hill faced Miguel Cabrera, who knocked a sharp grounder to Carlos Santana.

Making a diving stop, Santana, 37, made the toss to Hill, racing to beat Cabrera, 40, to first base. The meeting of the 120-year-old triumvirate converging at the bag ultimately went Hill’s way, as he barely beat Cabrera to secure the out.

“I guess you don't see 40-plus-year-olds race on a Major League field very often,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “So capture that in your memory bank.”

Historically, the Tigers’ slugger has had the upper hand: Cabrera’s 0-for-2 performance lowered his career batting average against Hill to .381.

“Just facing him over the years, I feel grateful to be on the same playing field as a guy like that,” Hill said. “It was fun -- but I have to get over a little quicker next time.”

Hill’s win helped the Pirates shake off a major issue: for weeks, they won behind Mitch Keller and nobody else. Hill’s start marked the first game the Pirates have won with someone besides Keller on the mound since April 29 against Washington.

The outing marked a rebound for Hill, who went only 3 2/3 innings his last time out. He lowered his ERA to 3.80, improving to 4-3 on the season.

“I always talk about how the ball comes out of my hand,” Hill said. “Today certainly was a day that it came out the way that I wanted it to.”

Pittsburgh’s offense could have been the story of the day, as the Bucs brought Tigers starter Eduardo Rodriguez’s dominant run to a halt, pounding out 8 runs on 14 hits, including three doubles and a homer. Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen, Connor Joe, Rodolfo Castro and Hedges all had multihit games as the Pirates put together their highest-scoring game of the month.

But ultimately, Hill stole the show, not just for his mad dash to first, but mostly for lifting the Pirates to a much-needed win and picking up seven tantalizing strikeouts while holding Detroit to a single hit.

“I love him,” Rodriguez said. “I love the way he's pitching. It's just really good to see him go out there and do good. The only thing was, it was against us."