Detroit Tigers beat St. Louis Cardinals but lose Shane Greene

A night after putting up 13 runs on 20 hits, the Detroit Tigers continued a rare sustained offensive attack, putting up double-digit runs again to go along with 17 hits in the 10-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

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Even without the benefit of the DH, the Tigers, who have had a noticeable lack of power recently, got several homers Friday night. The first, in the second inning, came off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes, who hit his first four-bagger since April 27.

The Tigers added a run in the fifth inning off an Anthony Gose triple and an Ian Kinsler sacrifice fly. Two innings later, Kinsler had a great at-bat to work a walk with two out. Miguel Cabrera drilled a homer to center field, his ninth of the year (and first in a night game). It was Miggy’s third homer in the last two games and he is now just one homer away from 400 for his career.

One batter later, J.D. Martinez laced a lazy fly ball down the left field that bounced off the top of the wall holding up the foul pole and the Tigers led 5-0.

Shane Greene started for the Tigers and was effective, keeping the Cardinals off the scoreboard, scattering five hits and two walks to go with four strikeouts through five innings. He was getting hit rather hard but the balls were finding gloves.

Greene did not come out for the sixth inning, which was surprising considering he threw just 74 pitches and was pitching a shutout. The Tigers announced that he was removed because of mild ulnar neuritis. In non-doctor speak it means that a nerve in the elbow was swollen.

He will be re-evaluated on Saturday and we all hope for the best. Whenever you hear elbow issues, even potentially minor ones, it is alarming because of the high volume of Tommy John surgeries. But we won’t jump to conclusions on this night.

That meant the Tigers had to go to their bullpen early. Blaine Hardy pitched a scoreless sixth inning. In the ensuing inning following the back-to-back homers, Angel Nesbitt, who is been very effective this season, allowed St. Louis to get on the board via a two-run homer from old friend Jhonny Peralta.

Detroit took one of those runs right back in the eighth when Gose recorded an infield single, scoring James McCann with the sixth run.

The Cards fought back with another two-run shot, this time from Jason Heyward off Tom Gorzelanny.

Not to be outdone, the Tigers scored four runs in the ninth inning with two runs scoring on a Cespedes double. McCann doubled him home and Jose Iglesias continued the hit parade with a run-scoring single.

Al Alburquerque worked around a two-out walk to end the game for the Tigers’ 22nd win of the season.

Notable

• Gose had three hits to raise his season average to .357
• Miggy had three hits and scored two runs
• Cespedes earned three RBIs
• The Tigers have scored 23 runs in their last two games, equaling their offensive output from the previous seven games

The teams will have a quick turnaround and play a matinee game at Busch Stadium Saturday at 2:15. David Price will face Tyler Lyons.

Next: Tigers and Cardinals are natural rivals