Tarik Skubal started from scratch and kept the Pittsburgh Pirates from scratching out a win.

The 25-year-old Detroit Tigers left-hander was scheduled to start against the Pirates on Tuesday night before being scratched at the outset of a rain delay and then was reinserted into the starting lineup.

The uncertainty didn’t bother Skubal.

After a 125-minute rain delay, Skubal struck out nine batters in seven innings to lead the Tigers to a 5-3 win Tuesday night before an announced crowd of 10,241 at PNC Park.

The delay had a different affect on Pirates starter Jose Quintana, who allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings and blew an early lead.

“I’ve been in this situation before. It’s always tough,” Quintana said of the long delay. “As soon as the game starts, I have to be ready to compete. I’m really frustrated when I have a short start.”

The game marked the major league debut of the Pirates’ 2018 first-round pick, center fielder Travis Swaggerty, one of three rookies to start in the outfield. Swaggerty went 0 for 3 with a fly out and two groundouts but didn’t look out of place.

“I think you’re probably going to see that a little bit,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “You’re going to continue to see rookies. We had, what, five on the field? It’s where we’re at, it’s where we’re going and it’s fun.”

It also has its ups and downs, as Pirates rookies learned.

Cal Mitchell got the Pirates started when he roped a one-out single up the middle in the second inning. Yu Chang followed with his first hit as a Pirate after striking out in 14 of 19 plate appearances this season, including seven of nine since being acquired from Cleveland in a trade.

Chang hit Skubal’s 1-2 fastball for a fly ball that floated into shallow right field. Tigers second baseman Jonathan Schoop tracked it, only to see the ball glance off his glove for a double as right fielder Austin Meadows closed in. Mitchell raced around the bases, beating the throw and sliding past catcher Tucker Barnhart to score for a 1-0 lead.

Shelton credited Pirates third base coach Mike Rabelo for sending Mitchell, who made “a really good play.”

“He gave us a chance to score a run,” Shelton said, “just by making an aggressive baserunning play.”

The Tigers tied it in the third when Willi Castro singled to right and Schoop followed with an RBI double to left-center. They scored three runs in the fourth, taking the lead when Javier Baez hit a leadoff single, stole second base and scored when Spencer Torkelon smoked a line-drive double over Swaggerty and off the top of the center field wall.

“All I know is that ball was absolutely smashed,” Swaggerty said. “That’s what I knew. I went back, and I was like, ‘OK, this ball is smoked. I have no chance of playing this. I’m going to play it off the wall.’ Luckily, it hit right off the top of the wall and came right to me.”

Daz Cameron followed with a single to right and Barnhart drew a full-count walk to load the bases for Harold Castro, whose two-RBI single to center gave the Tigers a 4-1 lead.

That was it for Quintana, who waited two hours to make the start then allowed four earned runs on seven hits and one walk, striking out five while throwing 74 pitches. Quintana left his four-seam fastball over the middle of the plate, allowing the Tigers to square up on the ball.

“I got in trouble in that inning with bad pitches,” Quintana said. “Everything went by really quick. I couldn’t execute my pitches to get out of the jam.”

The Pirates rookies rallied as Jack Suwinski was hit by a Skubal sinker, and Mitchell smacked a two-run homer 405 feet to the right field seats for his second home run to cut it to 4-3. It was only the second career homer Skubal has surrendered to a lefty hitter, and Shelton was impressed with Mitchell’s aggressive swings.

“He did two really good things,” Shelton said, “and then a play that we need to talk about.”

Mitchell misjudged a Barnhart fly ball to right and made a late dive only to see the ball bounce past his glove in the eighth. Chang cut off Mitchell’s relay but his throw to home was wide of the plate and allowed Daz Cameron to score for a 5-3 lead.

“Especially in a one-run game in the eighth, he’s got to stay on his feet and just body that ball and keep it in front of him,” Shelton said, “(so) you end up with first and second or, at worst, first and third.”

Mitchell accepted blame for his costly mistake, considering it a lesson learned.

“I made my initial read, pulled up, decided to dive,” Mitchell said. “In hindsight, close ballgame, a couple of outs, runners in scoring position, should have stayed on my feet, blocked it and controlled some damage.”

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