ST. LOUIS (AP) — Riley Greene homered and hit the winning RBI double in the ninth inning to help the Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Zack McKinstry singled off Kyle Leahy (1-1) to lead off the ninth and scored on Greene’s double to the right-field gap.
Will Vest (4-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Tommy Kahnle pitched the ninth to earn his sixth save in eight chances.
Tigers starter Tarik Skubal allowed three runs on five hits and a walk and struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings.
Nolan Arenado homered, and Erick Fedde allowed four runs on five hits, struck out two batters, and walked none in five innings for the Cardinals.
Victor Scott II doubled off Tyler Holton to lead off the the seventh and scored on Masyn Winn’s sacrifice fly to tie the game at 4-4.
Iván Herrera drove in Winn with a single to right to cut the Cardinals deficit to 4-3 in the sixth inning and chase Skubal. Herrera singled to right field to lead off the fifth inning and give him a career-best 10-game hitting streak. Arenado hit the next pitch into the left field stands, cutting Detroit’s lead to 4-2.
Kerry Carpenter hit a lead off homer for Detroit.
Greene lined a two-run homer off the right field foul pole to double Detroit’s lead to 4-0.
Key moment
After Herrera’s seventh-inning single, Arenado and Jordan Walker each singled to load the bases, but Brennan Hanifee got Pedro Páges to ground weakly to third base to preserve Detroit’s 4-3 lead.
Key stat
Skubal allowed Winn to advance to second on a sixth inning balk. It was his first balk in 630 2/3 major league innings.
Up next
Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said LHP Sean Guenther (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will start a bullpen game against St. Louis RHP Andre Pallante (4-2, 4.11) in the final game of their three-game series on Wednesday.