Kiner-Falefa has 2-run single in 10th as Pirates beat Tigers 8-4 to earn doubleheader split

DETROIT (AP) — Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a two-run single in a four-run 10th inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers 8-4 for a split of a doubleheader Thursday.

The Tigers won the first game 9-2 behind four RBIs from Riley Greene.

Pinch-hitter Ke'Bryan Hayes led off the 10th with a single to right, scoring pinch-runner Tommy Pham from second. The Tigers challenged the call, and A.J. Hinch was ejected for arguing after the call was upheld.

Nick Gonzales singled, and a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third. An intentional walk to Jared Triolo loaded the bases, and pinch-hitter Joey Bart had an RBI single to make it 6-4. One out later, Kiner-Falefa hit a single to left to bring home two more runs.

A group of fans was ejected during the 10th inning after a verbal confrontation with Pham.

Pirates ace Paul Skenes allowed two runs and three hits in six innings, walking five and striking out nine.

Gonzales led off the second with a solo homer off Tigers opener Tyler Holton and Triolo's two-run homer made it 3-0. Andrew McCutchen pushed the Pirates' lead to 4-0 with a solo homer off Keider Montero in the third.

Gleyber Torres had a two-run double for the Tigers in the fifth, and Colt Keith had a two-run homer off Isaac Mattson in the seventh to tie the score.

Pittsburgh appeared to get an inning-ending double play in the fifth inning when Trey Sweeney was called for interference against Gonzales on a grounder by Keith. The umpires originally signaled that Sweeney and Keith were both out, but changed the ruling to Sweeney being out, Keith being placed on first and Jake Rogers being returned to second. Torres followed with his two-run double.

The game started 30 minutes late, thanks to a 40-minute rain delay in the first game of the doubleheader. Light rain began to fall in the ninth inning of the second game and got heavier in the bottom of the inning, forcing a 75-minute delay with one out.

Pirates RHP Mike Burrows (1-1, 4.24 ERA) is scheduled to start against Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom (6-2, 2.19) in the opener of a three-game series at home. Tigers RHP Jack Flaherty (5-7, 4.03) will face Rays RHP Shane Baz (6-3, 4.54) in the opener of a three-game series at Tampa, Fla.

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Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes throws against the Detroit Tigers in the sixth inning during the second baseball game of a doubleheader, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers' Colt Keith, right, celebrates his two-run home run with Trey Sweeney against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh inning during the second baseball game of a doubleheader, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers' Colt Keith slides safely into home plate ahead of the tag by Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Henry Davis in the fifth inning during the second baseball game of a doubleheader, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Jared Triolo (19) celebrates scoring against the Detroit Tigers in the 10th inning during the second baseball game of a doubleheader, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Isiah Kiner-Falefa hits a two-run single against the Detroit Tigers in the 10th inning during the second baseball game of a doubleheader, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — As Chileans vote on Sunday, even detractors of ultra-conservative former lawmaker José Antonio Kast say the candidate whose radical ideas lost him the past two elections is now almost certain to become Chile’s next leader.

Kast’s meaningful lead in the polls over his rival in the presidential runoff, communist Jeannette Jara, shows how the hard-liner agitating for mass deportations of immigrants has seized the mantle of the traditional right in a country that once defined its post-dictatorship democratic revival with a vow to contain such political forces.

But much is also up for grabs about Chile’s political direction.

Kast's claim to a popular mandate depends on his margin of victory on Sunday over Jara, the center-left governing party candidate who narrowly beat him in the first round of elections last month.

Although various right-wing parties won around 70% of the vote in that election, substantial support for a populist center-right candidate who described himself as an alternative to Kast’s “fascism” revealed that, between the contrasting ideologies of the front-runners, sit hundreds of thousands of centrist voters with no real representation.

“Both are too extreme for me,” said Juan Carlos Pileo, 44, who plans to cast a blank ballot Sunday, as voting is now mandatory in Chile’s elections. “I can’t trust someone who says she’s a communist to be moderate. And I can’t trust someone who exaggerates the amount of crime we have in this country and blames immigrants to be fair and respectful.”

It remains a question whether Kast, an admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, can implement his more grandiose promises.

They include slashing $6 billion in public spending over just 18 months without eliminating social benefits, deporting over 300,000 immigrants in Chile with no legal status and expanding the powers of the army to fight organized crime in a country still haunted by Gen. Augusto Pinochet’sbloody military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990.

For one, Kast’s far-right Republican Party lacks a majority in Congress, meaning that he’ll need to negotiate with moderate right-wing forces that could bristle at those proposals, significantly shaping policy and his own legacy.

Political compromises could temper Kast’s radicalism, but also jeopardize his position with voters who expect him to deliver quickly on his law-and-order campaign promises.

At each campaign event, Kast has taken to ticking off the number of days remaining until Chile's March 11 presidential inauguration, warning they should get out before they'll "have to leave with just the clothes on their backs.”

Jorge Rubio, 63, a Chilean banker in downtown Santiago, the capital, said he's “also counting down the days.”

“That’s why we’re voting for Kast," he said.

As the pandemic shuttered borders, transnational criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua seized illegal migration routes to gain a foothold in Chile, long considered among Latin America's safest countries. Homicides hit a record high in 2022, the first year of President Gabriel Boric’s tenure.

Kast insists that Boric’s government is too soft on immigration and crime, which the far-right leader argues are connected although the data does not necessarily support his narrative. Boric’s approval rating has plummeted, standing now at just 30%.

Yet many say the firebrand former student protester who came to power in 2021 pledging to transform Chile's market-led economy, has risen to the occasion. Boric went from criticizing the use of police force on the campaign trial to pouring money into the security forces. He sent the military to reinforce Chile's northern border, stiffened penalties for organized crime and created the country's first public security ministry.

Chile's homicide rate is now falling, about on par with the rate in the United States. That has done nothing to change Chileans' feelings of profound insecurity.

In Libya, where fractious militias jostle for political power, over 70% of people feel safe walking alone at night, according to a recent Gallup survey of 144 countries.

In Chile, just 39% of people do, around the same as in Ecuador, which is now in the midst of a violent, drug-driven crime wave.

As Boric's former minister of labor, Jara became popular for passing some of the administration's most important welfare measures.

That matters little now. Voters' concerns have forced her to switch gears. She has vowed to toughen border security, register undocumented migrants, tackle money laundering and step up police raids.

But promises to restore law and order are more persuasive coming from an insurgent outsider who has made security a key part of his agenda for years.

“Kast has been smart and strategic in focusing on migration and security," said Lucía Dammert, a sociologist and Boric’s first chief of staff. “It has been very difficult for the Jara campaign to move him away from those issues.”

Learning from his previous two failed presidential runs, Kast has avoided topics that fire up his critics — such as his German-born father’s Nazi past, his nostalgia for Pinochet's dictatorship and his opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.

When asked, Kast says only that his values remain the same. His supporters, including voters who previously spurned him over his social conservatism, now say that abstract human rights concerns come after their need for safety on the streets.

“It's not very nice to hear that he's going to separate immigrant children from their parents, it's sad, that's going to be a problem for me,” said Natacha Feliz, a 27-year-old immigrant from the Dominican Republic referring to a recent interview in which Kast said immigrant parents without legal status who didn’t self-deport would be obliged to hand their kids over to the state.

“But this is happening everywhere, not just in Chile. Let's just hope that our security situation improves."

Associated Press writer Nayara Batschke in Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report.

A voter casts his ballot during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Luis Soto prepares to vote in the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Richard Ferreira, a Venezuelan residing in Chile, waits for polls to open during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Police guard the Mapocho station polling station during the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Presidential candidate Jeannette Jara of the Unidad por Chile coalition addresses supporters during a rally ahead of the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A man cycles past campaign ads for presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast and Argentina's President Javier Milei reading in Spanish "Our future is in danger" ahead of the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast of the Republican Party addresses supporters, from behind a protective glass panel, during a rally ahead of the runoff election in Temuco, Chile, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

A campaign banner reads in Spanish "Neither Jara nor Kast will make our lives better, don't vote, rebel and fight" ahead of the presidential runoff election in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Presidential candidates Jose Antonio Kast of the Republican Party and Jeannette Jara of the Unity for Chile coalition shake hands during a debate ahead of runoff elections in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)