Opponent: Detroit Tigers (54-25).

Times: 7:05 p.m. today and tomorrow, 1:35 p.m. Sunday.

TV, radio: Today and Sunday on FSN Pittsburgh, all games on KDKA-AM (1020) and Pirates Radio Network.

Starting matchups: RHP Kip Wells (0-2, 11.88) vs. LHP Kenny Rogers (10-3, 3.44), LHP Tom Gorzelanny (season debut) vs. RHP Jeremy Bonderman (7-4, 3.65), RHP Ian Snell (7-5, 4.87) vs. RHP Zach Miner (4-1, 2.59).

Season series: First meeting since June 12-14, 2001. Detroit leads the all-time series, 12-11, including the Pirates' seven-game World Series victory in 1909.

Three things to know about the Tigers: 1. Jim Leyland will return home with head held high, managing the best team in Major League Baseball. The only comparable 79-game starts in Detroit's history came in 1911 -- the Ty Cobb era -- and the 1984 World Series champions. 2. The current 17-3 roll, including six in a row, has come largely from the starting pitchers going 15-2 with a 2.55 ERA. The staff as a whole has a streak of 20 scoreless innings after sweeping Houston. 3. The offense has helped, too, batting .359 with runners in scoring position in the past 20 games, but the Pirates could catch a bit of a break: RF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit's top hitter with a .313 average and 57 RBIs, bruised a shin Wednesday and is questionable for the series.

The Pirates' key to success: Keep the leadoff man, CF Curtis Granderson, off the bases. In the past 34 games, he is batting .326 with 29 runs, most in the American League in that stretch.

The intangible: The ovations for Leyland might be loud enough to convince the Tigers they are at Comerica Park, where their record is 25-14.

On deck: Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine open the four-game set in New York against the Mets.