PITTSBURGH — Francisco Liriano made 89 pitches in his return to work following the birth of his fourth child. Only one turned out to be a mistake.

Given the way the Pittsburgh Pirates’ offense is going at the moment, that’s still one too many.

Detroit’s Rajai Davis sent an 81 mph slider from Liriano into the first row of seats in left field leading off the sixth inning, providing starter Alfredo Simon with all the run support he would need in a 1-0 win on Wednesday.

A night after managing just three hits against Shane Greene in a 2-0 loss, the Pirates weren’t any better against Simon. Pittsburgh’s entire offensive output consisted of consecutive two-out singles by Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker in the fourth inning.

The Pirates are hitting just .207 on the season, haven’t scored in 20 straight innings or drawn a walk since Saturday.

“We’re just a tick off and sometimes a tick off is a lot at the major league level,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said.

Detroit won two of three in the interleague series despite scoring just seven runs. Simon (2-0) struck out only two but took advantage of solid defense behind him as the Tigers handed Pittsburgh consecutive home losses for the first time since last August.