PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Francisco Cordova was tough enough Monday night without all the help Detroit Tigers batters gave him.

	Cordova

"He threw pretty good ... but we helped him," Tigers manager Phil Garner said. "We had some at bats that were not so good."

Cordova (4-4) allowed one run and six hits in seven-plus innings after sitting through a rain delay of 2 hours, 1 minute before the game. He walked two and struck out seven.

"Francisco has good stuff but it all comes down to location," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. "When he can out the ball exactly where he wants to, like he did tonight, he's tough to beat."

Cordova pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth and escaped after putting runners at second and third with nobody out in the second.

He left in the eighth inning after walking Rich Becker and giving up a single to Rob Fick.

"It looks to me like he's turning it loose and throwing it free and easy," Pirates catcher Jason Kendall said. "I don't know how he feels but that's the way it looks."

Wil Cordero had three hits, including his ninth home run, as Dave Mlicki (2-7) lost his second consecutive start.

"Mlicki wasn't as sharp as I've seen him but he wasn't as bad as the score makes it look," Garner said. "Our defense kind of fell apart on him at times."

Giles doubled in the seventh off reliever Allen McDill and scored on John Vander Wal's single. Luis Sojo had a RBI single later in the inning.

Cordova gave up a single to Bob Higginson and a double to Dean Palmer to start the second inning. He struck out Damion Easley, got Deivi Cruz on a soft liner and struck out Javier Cardona.

"He was able to make big pitches in big situations," Kendall said.

Cordova allowed a double, single and walk in the sixth but struck out Palmer and got Easley to ground out.

After Cordova left, Jose Silva gave up a sacrifice fly to Juan Encarnacion, then struck out two batters.

Game notes
The Tigers were without Juan Gonzalez, who fouled a ball off his left foot in Sunday's game. ... Cardona singled in the fifth for his first major league hit. It was his second game and third at bat. ... Pirates second baseman Warren Morris left the game in the fourth with a bruised right ankle, the result of a foul ball. ... The start of the game was delayed 2:01 by rain. The announced paid attendance was 12,479 but there weren't more than 1,000 people in the stands when the game started at 9:06 p.m.