PITTSBURGH — For Russell Martin, it was all about staying positive.

The Pittsburgh Pirates catcher remained optimistic when the Detroit Tigers were seemingly putting runners on base in every inning. And he was still looking on the bright side when he stepped to the plate with a chance to win the game despite having already struck out three times.

Martin hit a bases-loaded single off the left-center wall in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Pirates a 1-0 victory over the Tigers on Thursday night.

“You’ve got to believe you can do it,” Martin said. “If you think you’re going to fail then you’re probably going to fail. It’s all a matter of having a positive attitude and believing in yourself. Our whole team is like that right now.”

Neil Walker opened the inning with a sharp single to right off Luke Putkonen (1-1) and Andrew McCutchen walked. Gaby Sanchez loaded the bases by bouncing a single through the left side of the infield.

Martin then ripped a 2-1 pitch into the gap to give the Pirates (34-20) their 16th win in 20 games.

Martin came into the game having gone 4 for 29 in his previous eight games. However, he singled in the ninth inning and wound up with a multi-hit game.

“The great thing about Russell is he never takes his offense behind the plate,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said “He struck out his first three times up tonight yet he went right back behind the plate and it was all about the pitcher. That’s why it was so good to see him come through at the end.”

The Tigers left 11 runners on base in losing their third straight.

“Baseball is always a hard game and tonight it was really hard,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “That’s what I always say, on-base percentage is great but the biggest thing is you need to drive those guys on base in. We had a hard time with that tonight. We’ve had a hard time with that the last few days.

Detroit was shut out by the Pirates for the second time in three days as Jeff Locke and five relievers combined on a nine-hitter. Bryan Morris (3-2) pitched a scoreless inning to finish.

“You know how good the Tigers’ offense is, one of the best in baseball,” Walker said. “You feel like you’re playing with a ticking time bomb when they don’t score but you can’t give enough credit to our pitching staff. They got so many big outs in this game.”

Detroit starter Doug Fister struck out 12 in seven innings and allowed four hits. Miguel Cabrera hit two doubles for the Tigers, including the 400th of his career.

Fister came in with a 5.20 ERA in five May starts after going 4-0 with a 2.38 ERA in five starts in April.