PITTSBURGH — For much of Wednesday, the story of the game was another short start from Paul Skenes.

Rafael Flores Jr. entered the game in the seventh and rewrote those stories with just two swings of his bat.

Flores homered twice, including a game-tying shot against Kenley Jansen in the ninth, and Brandon Lowe walked it off with a blast of his own to earn the Pirates a 4-3 win against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park.

The Pirates took four of six from Detroit and the Boston Red Sox on the homestand. They’ve won nine consecutive home series against AL opponents.

Skenes, whose start was pushed back from Sunday, walked four batters and completed just 4 1/3 innings. He’s walked four batters in three of his last four outings. He had walked four or more just five times in his first 77 starts prior to this stretch. He hasn’t completed six innings in five consecutive starts and has done so just twice in his past 10.

His command was off early. He walked the first two batters on 15 pitches, a stark difference from the efficiency Braxton Ashcraft showed in Tuesday’s win. However, Skenes recovered for a scoreless frame.

He allowed his first run in the third. No. 9 hitter Hao-Yu Lee singled, advanced to third by beating the throw on Colt Keith’s single to left, then scored on a Kevin McGonigle sacrifice fly.

After a 1-2-3 fourth inning, a nine-pitch frame with two strikeouts, the Tigers chased Skenes in the fifth. Max Clark started the inning with a double down the right-field line, the only extra-base hit Skenes allowed. Skenes walked Lee and struck out Keith but allowed a single to Gleyber Torres. Don Kelly came out to get Skenes after 81 pitches, leaving runners on the corners.

Gregory Soto swiftly allowed a double to McGonigle, bringing Lee in for a third run charged to Skenes. Torres was waved home, trying to score from first, but he was easily thrown out by a clean relay from Oneil Cruz to Nick Gonzales to Henry Davis.

Soto’s double was one of two hits the Pirates bullpen allowed. He completed 1 2/3 innings with two strikeouts before Camilo Doval had the seventh, Luke Weaver pitched the eighth and Mason Montgomery threw a scoreless ninth.

It was over when ...

The Pirates trailed 3-2 in the ninth when the Tigers brought in Jansen, their closer. Flores hit a one-out homer, then Lowe bounced one off the right-field foul pole for the win.

On the mound

If Skenes is looking for positives, he can look at the fact he wasn’t hit hard. Just two balls were hit harder than 93 mph against him, both for outs. Unlike his start in Miami, when the average exit velocity was 92.8 mph, the Tigers managed little when he was in the zone.

Skenes also had a more typical number of whiffs. The Tigers swung and missed 11 times, compared to just four against the Marlins. Skenes’ average velocity matched his yearly average after it was down in Miami.

But the walks are the biggest concern, keeping him from completing even five innings.

At the plate

The Pirates gave Skenes an early run to work with. With two on and two outs in the first inning against Detroit right-hander Jackson Jobe, Cruz hit a single to left field to score Lowe from second base.

But it was an otherwise slow offensive day until the ninth. Jared Triolo ended a two-on, one-out opportunity in the fourth with a groundout, while Nick Yorke stranded two two-out walks in the eighth with a flyout.

Flores had a pinch-hit homer against right-hander Jacob Waguespack to get the Pirates within 3-2 in the seventh. The homer, the Pirates’ 82nd of the season at PNC Park, marked the most they had hit at home in the ballpark’s history.

Bucs bites

— In the eighth inning, the Pirates announced they had acquired Triple-A catcher Christian Bethancourt from the New York Yankees for cash. Bethancourt, 34, hasn’t played in the majors since 2024. He is expected to be on the Pirates’ taxi squad in Los Angeles this weekend.

Up next

The Pirates are off Thursday as they begin their longest road trip of the season, a nine-game, 11-day visit to Los Angeles, San Diego and St. Louis.

They’ll start Friday night with three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the series opener at 10:10 p.m. pitting right-hander Bubba Chandler (6-8, 4.23 ERA) against right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-7, 2.60).

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