Wenceel Perez hit two homers and drove in three runs to lift the host Detroit Tigers to an 11-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals to split a doubleheader on Tuesday night.
Perez, a rookie, had three hits and scored three runs. Riley Greene also supplied three hits, including a homer, and drove in two runs. Mark Canha scored two runs and knocked in another, while Jake Rogers had two RBIs.
Alec Burleson homered and drove in four runs for St. Louis. Brendan Donovan smacked a two-run homer and Paul Goldschmidt had four hits.
Tyler Holton (2-0) picked up the win in relief for Detroit. Kyle Leahy (0-1) took the loss.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Andy Ibanez singled and Canha walked before Greene’s one-out double scored Ibanez. Spencer Torkelson’s groundout brought home Canha.
Perez made it 3-0 in the bottom of the second with his first homer of the game, an opposite-field shot.
Detroit scored again in the third on Canha’s RBI double.
St. Louis broke through in the fifth. Michael Siani led off with a single and Donovan blasted his third homer of the season.
With two outs in the inning, Nolan Arenado walked and Goldschmidt singled. Holton then entered for Tigers starter Matt Manning and Burleson greeted him with his three-run blast over the left-center field wall, putting the Cardinals ahead.
The advantage didn’t last long, as the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-5 lead. Canha singled and Torkelson doubled before Rogers knocked in a run with a groundout. Perez then launched his second homer of the game off Ryan Fernandez.
Burleson’s RBI single in the seventh pulled St. Louis within a run.
Detroit answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning for an 11-6 advantage. Greene’s seventh homer of the season got it started. Rogers soon followed with an RBI double, Parker Meadows drew a bases-loaded walk and Kerry Carpenter added a sacrifice fly.
The Cardinals used a ninth-inning rally to defeat the Tigers 2-1 in the first game.
–Field Level Media