PITTSBURGH — Jim Leyland would never say so publicly, but he let his players know what's on his mind: He is back at home in Pittsburgh, and the Detroit Tigers had better not lose there.

Carlos Guillen's two-run triple highlighted Detroit's four-run third inning and the Tigers overcame Kenny Rogers' shaky start to beat Pittsburgh 7-6 Friday night, the Pirates' 14th loss in 15 games.

Curtis Granderson singled and scored to start the third, then protected a one-run lead by making an excellent leaping catch of Ronny Paulino's line drive into the left-center gap to end the eighth with the potential tying run on third.

Granderson works daily with a former Gold Glove outfielder who has made numerous exceptional catches in Pittsburgh for Leyland, Tigers coach Andy Van Slyke. As Granderson said, "It's starting to turn into some good stuff."

"I was kind of excited when he caught that ball," said reliever Joel Zumaya, who rooms with Granderson on the road. "I owe him a steak dinner."

Leyland doesn't have to go far for his home cooking while managing in PNC Park for the first time against the team that gave him his first big league managerial job in 1986.

Leyland's house is crowded by friends and family members, and he said, "It's great when it's happening, but I'll be glad when it's over."

Leyland drew nearly all cheers during the pregame introductions, but joked, "Some of the people booing me were the ones I left tickets for."

The Pirates are on pace for a 14th consecutive losing season and, in a quirky twist, each of the three full-season managers during that streak were on the Tigers' bench: Leyland (1986-96) and coaches Gene Lamont (1997-2000) and Lloyd McClendon (2001-05).

Worse still for the Pirates: Chris Shelton homered against the club that gave him away in the Rule 5 draft three years ago.

The Pirates inexplicably left Shelton unprotected in a draft in which they drew laughter from baseball executives at the 2003 winter meetings by having five of the first six players drafted.