DETROIT — Whether they won or lost the game during Tuesday’s double-down in Detroit, the Cardinals at least orchestrated a comeback in each half of the doubleheader.
There would be no such uprising Wednesday.
Detroit starter Kenta Maeda and a cast of relievers unplugged the several opportunities the Cardinals had to once again flip a game on the Tigers. They preserved an early lead provided by CBC grad Matt Vierling and held on to claim the interleague series with a 4-1 victory Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park. The Cardinals’ lone run came on a solo homer by catcher Willson Contreras, but otherwise the Cardinals began May a lot like they spent April — looking for that steady drumbeat of offense or breakthrough hit.
Entering the ninth inning, the Cardinals’ had two late-game chances to generate a game-changing rally and both ended with how they began this series — with a strikeout.
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The Cardinals went 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position.
Vierling singled and homered to create all three runs the Tigers scored off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (2-4). The right-hander completed a quality start by maneuvering around six hits allowed in his six innings. He retired the final 10 batters he faced. Maeda (1-1) matched the six innings, and he struck out five to the four hits and one homer allowed.
The Tigers’ three starters in the series combined for 17 1/3 innings and struck out 26 Cardinals.
CBC grad lifts Tigers to lead
Of all the Cardinals ties within the Tigers’ clubhouse — three former Cardinals early-round picks appeared in Game 1 Tuesday’s doubleheader; one matched AL history, the other took the loss — there is one player from Ƶ.
Vierling, the Tigers’ third baseman, was involved in all three runs as the Tigers took a 3-0 lead through the first three innings.
He opened the second with a leadoff single and scored from first on Colt Keith’s double. In the third, with two outs and a runner on base, Vierling drilled a home run off Mikolas to widen the Tigers’ lead. The home run was his third of the season. The hit was his fourth time on base in 24 hours against his hometown’s team. Entering Wednesday’s series finale, Vierling was batting .268 for the Tigers with a .705 OPS. A utility fielder who was part of the Phillies’ National League championship team in 2022, Vierling has been starting at third base due to a teammate’s injury.
This is his second season with Detroit after a trade from the Phillies in January 2023. Vierling, 27, played a career-high 134 games last season and hit .261 for the Tigers.
His homer Wednesday traveled an estimated 414 feet and added the punctuation to the early scoring against Mikolas.
It also was the last run against Mikolas.
Contreras mashes through frustration, briefly
After a difficult doubleheader day in Detroit, Contreras broke through his oh-for and the Cardinals run of oh-for on the scoreboard in the fourth inning.
The Cardinals’ catcher tagged a pitch to dead-center field for a solo homer. His fifth homer of the season produced the only run the Cardinals got against right-hander Maeda and brought to a conclusion a streak of whiffs for Contreras.
During Tuesday’s doubleheader, Contreras went 0 for 9, and he struck six times in 18 innings. Three of those strikeouts came against former teammate Jack Flaherty, including Flaherty’s 13th of the game, which tied his previous career best before the right-hander broke that on his way to 14. Contreras began Wednesday’s game with another strikeout, his seventh in 10 at-bats at Comerica Park.
Contreras’ home run traveled an estimated 433 feet and was, entering the ninth inning, the hardest hit of the game, leaving his bat at 110.2 mph.
When the game spun its way back to him with a chance to reshape it, the Tigers turned to a targeted reliever. In the top of the eighth inning, the Cardinals got a two-out single from pinch-hitter Jose Fermin and a walk from Brendan Donovan. The inning found Contreras as the potential go-ahead run at the plate. He remained there after right-handed reliever Alex Lange bent an 88-mph curveball past his swing for a strikeout.
Tigers bullpen quells Cardinals
If ever there was an inning for the Cardinals to strike with their third comeback in as many days, the best opportunity came in the top of the seventh.
A confluence of events came together.
Detroit starter Maeda was out of the game and the middle of the Cardinals’ order was due up. During the doubleheader Tuesday, the significant rallies all involved the middle of the Cardinals order reaching base, whether it was Paul Goldschmidt’s four hits in Game 2 or Nolan Arenado’s match-strike single in Game 1’s ninth-inning, game-winning rally. Right-hander Will Vest entered from the bullpen with those two All-Stars lurking as the second and third hitters up in the inning. First, Vest had to get past Lars Nootbaar.
Nootbaar singled and the opportunity was in motion.
Arenado singled and Detroit had déjà vu.
It all halted on a double play.
Goldschmidt grounded into a double play field and turned at third base by Vierling. With left-handed batter Alec Burleson coming up, Tigers manager A. J. Hinch turned to lefty Joey Wentz for a strikeout that ended the inning that began with back-to-back singles and ended without a runner reaching third base.