Thanks to a near no-hitter by Justin Verlander on Friday and a two home run, four-RBI game from Andrew McCutchen on Saturday, the Tigers and Pirates enter Sunday's series finale having split their first two games of Interleague Play.

Whereas Verlander will have to sit this one out, as Detroit hands the ball to Max Scherzer, McCutchen will look to continue the tear he's been on in May.

The 25-year-old slugger has hit .420 (21-for-50) and recorded his second multi-homer game in three days -- while accounting for all of Pittsburgh's four runs Saturday. All seven of his home runs in 2012 have come this month.

"I've been feeling pretty good, and it all goes back to what I did in the offseason to get ready," McCutchen said after the Pirates 4-3 win Saturday. "I found something I'm comfortable with and I stuck with it, even when I wasn't feeling that good at the plate ... and I've been able to get some balls out of the park."

McCutchen is 3-for-8 with a double and no home runs in his career against Scherzer. He also owns a .375 batting average (15-for-40) in 11 career games against the Tigers.

"I said for a couple years now, I think he's one of the better looking young players in baseball," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said Saturday. "He's got a lot of talent, he can fly, he's got power. He's a really good-looking player. That's why they locked him up."

In four Interleague games and three starts, Scherzer has never served up a long ball. However, he is coming off his second shortest outing of the year, allowing six runs -- five earned -- on eight hits in four innings to the White Sox on Tuesday.

Opposing Scherzer is Kevin Correia, who has lost four straight decisions and is coming off his shortest outing in 2012. He yielding six runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings against the Marlins.

"My command just wasn't real good," Correia said after the game. "I was getting away with it for a little while there. I was fighting it a little bit, but it finally caught up to me."

Tigers: Fielder heating up
• Prince Fielder is hitting .500 with four doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs in his last six games. He is 4-for-19 (.211) with a home run and six RBIs in his career against Correia.

• With a single to right field in the second inning of Saturday's game, Brennan Boesch extended his career-high hitting streak to 12 games.

• The Tigers haven't won back-to-back games since defeating the Royals on April 17-18.

"When you hear it, it is [hard to believe]," outfielder Don Kelly said. "But it's not like we come in here after winning a ball game pressing that we need to win two in a row. We actually need to win more than that, but we're going to turn it around."

Pirates: Correia brings experience
• Kevin Correia has made 23 appearances and 13 starts in Interleague Play. He is 5-5 with a 3.87 ERA. The 31-year-old right-hander has faced the Tigers once and is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA vs. Detroit.

• Jose Tabata, Andrew McCutchen, Clint Barmes and Garrett Jones are the only Pirates' batters with hits off Scherzer. They are 8-for-34 (.235 combined). Barmes has faced the right-hander the most and is 2-for-11 (.182) with a home run and four strikeouts.

• Friday night's loss dropped the Pirates' record in series openers to 3-11. On the flip side, on Sunday, they will be out to improve their record in getaway games to 9-2, which would also give them their second road series win of the season (April 16-18 at Arizona).

Worth Noting
• With a 4-3 win on Saturday, the Pirates avoided potentially getting swept. The Tigers and Pirates have met nine times since Interleague Play began in 1997 -- all three-game series -- and the Pirates were only swept once, in 2010.

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