Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With his performance Friday night, A.J. Burnett further ingrained himself in the Pirates' success in the past week.

Burnett stopped the Pirates' four-game losing streak by shutting down the Cleveland Indians last Saturday. Friday night, he shut down the Detroit Tigers and helped the Pirates win for the fifth time in six games.

Behind Burnett, the Pirates defeated the Tigers, 4-1, at PNC Park, moving their record to 37-32.

Burnett (8-2) pitched six scoreless innings and allowed two hits, walking three and striking out four. He now has four starts without allowing an earned run this season and lowered his ERA to 3.24.

He became the first Pirate to win seven consecutive starts since Dock Ellis won eight in a row in 1974.

Burnett said he operated using mostly his two-seam and four-seam fastballs because he never got a good handle on his curve.

"Usually we keep throwing it and try to find it, but we never found it tonight," he said.

"I think that threw them off. I think they were looking for curveballs in a lot of situations and we just stayed hard with them."

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