Riley Greene scored three runs as the visiting Detroit Tigers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 on Wednesday afternoon.
Spencer Torkelson went 2-for-2 with two walks, a run and an RBI as the Tigers took the rubber game of the three-game set. Detroit has won seven of its last nine games.
Detroit used an array of relievers in a bullpen game. Brant Hurter started the game by delivering three scoreless innings while allowing just one hit and one walk.
Chase Lee (1-0) followed with two scoreless innings for his first career win.
Sean Guenther allowed one run in two-thirds of an inning. Brenan Hanifee (two-thirds of an inning), Tyler Holton (two-thirds of an inning) and Beau Brieske (two innings) blanked the Cardinals the rest of the way.
Cardinals starter Andre Pallante (4-3) allowed three runs on four hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings.
Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Greene hit a single, raced to third on Torkelson’s single, and scored on Colt Keith’s sacrifice.
The Tigers doubled their lead in the fourth inning. Greene drew a two-out walk and scored on Torkelson’s double.
Detroit earned another opportunity in the fifth. Dillon Dingler hit a leadoff single, Trey Sweeney walked, and the runners advanced on a flyout before Pallante retired the next two batters.
Greene and Torkelson drew walks in the sixth inning before Dingler’s RBI single made it 3-0.
The Cardinals cut that lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the inning. Victor Scott II hit a single, took second on a flyout, and scored on Willson Contreras’ single.
St. Louis reliever Phil Maton walked a batter and hit a batter in the seventh. JoJo Romero hit a batter with two outs but struck out Greene to leave the bases loaded.
The Tigers pushed their lead to 5-1 in the eighth inning.
Torkelson walked, went to third on Keith’s double and scored on Sweeney’s sacrifice fly. Javier Baez followed with an RBI single.
