Detroit, MI – Austin Jackson and Delmon Young both knocked in a pair of runs as the Detroit Tigers downed the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3, in the opener of a three-game interleague set Tuesday.
Quintin Berry and Miguel Cabrera added two hits, an RBI and a run scored apiece for Detroit, which earned its third straight win.
Justin Verlander (7-4) allowed three runs -- one earned -- on five hits and four walks over seven innings, while Phil Coke tossed a perfect ninth to record his first save of the year in place of closer Jose Valverde, who suffered an injury while warming up.
Lance Lynn (10-3) was touched for five runs on nine hits and two walks through five innings to absorb the loss for the Cardinals, who have dropped three of their last four.
"Against a team like this, if you're behind in the count they are going to hurt you and that's what happened tonight," Lynn said about his outing. "I have to be better than that."
After the Cardinals stranded a runner on second in the top of the first, Detroit took the lead in the bottom of the inning when Cabrera hit a two-out double high off the wall in right field and came home on Young's base hit through the left side of the infield.
The Tigers then loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning on three straight singles by Brennan Boesch, Jhonny Peralta and Ramon Santiago before Jackson slapped a two-run double into right-center field.
Berry followed with a grounder to short that plated Santiago, giving Detroit a 4-0 advantage.
Young's RBI single landed just beyond the reach of Cardinals second baseman Daniel Descalso in shallow right field in the fifth inning to add to the Tigers' lead.
"We wanted to try and jump on them early. I think that's the game plan when you have a couple of good pitchers on the mound," said Jackson. "You try to get out on them early and try to disrupt whatever momentum that they have. We were able to do that tonight."
St. Louis got on the board in the sixth inning when Descalso singled, moved to third on a Carlos Beltran base hit and crossed the plate on Matt Holliday's bouncer to first base, but Cabrera answered with a run-scoring single in the home sixth to make it a 6-1 game.
The Cardinals managed to cut into their deficit again in the seventh after loading the bases with two outs. Beltran's liner to Berry in left bounced off the fielder's glove, allowing David Freese and Descalso to score on the error.
A Holliday walk filled the bags again, but Verlander fanned Allen Craig to end the inning and keep it a three-run game.
St. Louis would get no closer as Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect eighth inning and Coke retired the side in order in the ninth to close out the game.
Game Notes
Verlander improved to 18-2 in 24 career interleague outings...Lynn allowed more than two runs in a start for just the third time this season...The Tigers have an 11-2 overall record against St. Louis at Comerica Park.
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