LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-5, on Saturday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland.

The Tigers are 8-7-1 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Right-hander Matt Manning surrendered three hits for three home runs in his third start of spring training. He has given up four hits — all for home runs — through his first three games, spanning eight innings with three walks and 11 strikeouts.

"That has to go down," Manning said of the homers.

Manning, who threw 44 of 69 pitches for strikes to the Pirates, has allowed 27 homers across 226⅓ innings throughout his three-year MLB career, averaging 1.1 homers per nine innings.

"I have a track record of not really giving up homers," Manning said, "so it's just one of those things. It's got to trend back down. If I keep my strikeouts and keep my swing-and-miss, I'll be in a really good spot."

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The Tigers struck for four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, capped off by Keston Hiura's three-run home run. He pushed a two-strike cutter from right-handed reliever Colin Holderman over the wall in right-center field, an opposite-field homer, to put the Tigers ahead, 6-4.

The three-run homer was set up by Colt Keith's walk, Carson Kelly's single and Zach McKinstry's RBI single. After the homer, Holderman responded by striking out three batters in a row: Akil Baddoo, Matt Vierling and Gio Urshela.

Baddoo, who finished 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, is hitting .188 (3-for-16) with two walks and nine strikeouts in eight games. All three hits are singles.

Starting off

The three home runs against Manning: Jake Lamb (two-run homer, 80.4 mph curveball) in the first inning, Canaan Smith-Njigba (solo homer, 93.4 mph fastball) and Henry Davis (solo homer, 92.3 mph fastball).

The homers by Lamb and Smith-Njigba were aided by a strong wind blowing to the outfield. The homer by Davis, though, left the bat with a 109.4 mph exit velocity.

"Henry's home run was legit," Manning said.

Aside from the homers, Manning had another strong performance on the mound. He recorded 13 whiffs with eight fastballs, two sliders and three changeups.

Strikeouts and whiffs, especially on secondary pitches, have been problem areas for the past three seasons.

"I got to two strikes well," Manning said. "I got my strikeouts and a lot of swing and miss. It's learning how to not try to do too much with two strikes. I'm getting those swings and misses early in counts, so it's just doing that again."

Manning threw 32 fastballs, 28 sliders, eight changeups and one curveball. His fastball averaged 94.1 mph, which was down from 95.4 mph in his previous start, but he spent most of his start against the Pirates working on the two variations of his slider.

He throws a bullet slider and a sweeping slider.

"I'm throwing it a little bit differently, and I'm getting flinches right now," Manning said of his work-in-progress bullet slider. "I have to throw it with the same arm, same everything, and then I'll start getting swings and misses."

At the plate

The Tigers scored two runs in the first inning with Matt Vierling's leadoff triple against right-hander L.L. Ortiz. The next batter, Gio Urshela, hit an inside sinker for an RBI single and a 1-0 lead.

Later on, Carson Kelly's two-out single increased the lead to 2-0.

In the eighth inning, Andrew Navigato blasted a solo home run off right-handed reliever Wily Peralta. The homer from Navigato put the Tigers ahead, 8-4.

On the mound

Left-hander Joey Wentz, who replaced Manning, tossed two scoreless innings with one walk and one strikeout. He got three whiffs on four swings against his changeup.

Wentz is competing for the final spot in the Tigers' bullpen.

The Tigers also pitched right-hander Will Vest and left-hander Tyler Holton out of the bullpen. Both relievers kept the Pirates from scoring, but Vest walked two batters despite two strikeouts.

Right-hander Mason Englert surrendered a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning, making it 8-5.

Three stars

1. Hiura, 2. Vierling, 3. Manning.

Next up

Sunday (1:05 p.m.) vs. New York Mets in Port St. Lucie.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Matt Manning allows 3 home runs in Detroit Tigers 8-5 win over Pirates