The Tigers last night were looking to get back to .500 for the first time in five weeks as they opened a 10-game road trip by taking on the Pirates. Instead,Detroit’s record dropped to 34-and-36 with a 4-to-1 loss at Pittsburgh.

The defeat had the markings of what’s dogged the Tigers season long slide to mediocrity: weak hitting and shoddy defense. The Pirates plated a pair of runs in the first inning with 3 hits off Detroit starter Doug Fister and then in the bottom of the second, Fister threw wildly into left field trying to cut down a lead runner at third and Delmon Young couldn’t pick it up cleanly and the two errors allowed Pittsburgh to double their lead to 4-to-0.

A.J. Burnett tossed six innings of two-hit ball to pace the Pirates and won his seventh straight start. Fister settled down to last six innings but he took the loss to drop to 1-and-4. Ramon Santiago’s rbi double accounted for the lone run the Tigers, who managed only 4-hits on the night.  

Max Scherzer goes to the mound for the Tigers this afternoon. The last time he face Pittsburghback on May 20^th inDetroit he fanned 15 Pirate batters in a 4-to-3 victory at Comerica Park.

Last night’s loss slipped the third place Tigers to 3-and-a-half games behind the Central division leading Indians. The White Sox are a game-and-a-half out after they lost 1-to-0 in ten-innings to the Brewers. And the Cubs fell 6-to-1 at Arizona.