ST. LOUIS — With a bullpen game on tap for the rubber game of their three-game series against the Cardinals on Wednesday, the Tigers knew it would take a team effort to pull out their fifth series win out of their past six.
And just as they have all season, they got it.
A combination of Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson’s offense, strong defense and a stellar pitching effort added up to a 5-1 win at Busch Stadium. The Tigers improved their record to 33-17 and now have the best record in MLB through 50 games for the first time since 2006.
Starter Brant Hurter set the tone with three scoreless innings. He struck out two and allowed one hit and one walk.
Hurter pitched around a leadoff walk to Iván Herrera, followed by a bunt hit by Alec Burleson to lead off the second. Third baseman Zach McKinstry saved a potential run by cleanly fielding a hard-hit grounder that left Jordan Walker’s bat at 105.5 mph and throwing to second for a forceout to end the inning.
Hurter retired the other nine batters he faced, bookending the stint by striking out Masyn Winn to start the first and fanning Brendan Donovan to end the third.
Chase Lee followed and did not allow a hit, facing the minimum in his two innings. Sean Guenther, Brenan Hanifee and Tyler Holton bridged the gap to Beau Brieske, who closed it out with two scoreless innings.
Just as they have for most of the season, Greene and Torkelson sparked the offense by leading off the second with back-to-back singles. Greene scored on a Colt Keith sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
The duo struck again in the fourth. Greene started a two-out rally with a walk and scored on Torkelson’s double off the right-field wall that just eluded Walker’s glove to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Greene and Torkelson were front and center again as the Tigers tacked on in the sixth. Both drew walks, and Greene scored on a Dillon Dingler hit. Torkelson tried to score when Dingler got hung up between first and second, but he was thrown out at home.
Torkelson walked and scored on a Trey Sweeney sacrifice fly, and Javier Báez’s single scored Keith in the eighth. Torkelson and Greene combined for three hits and four walks and scored four of the Tigers’ five runs.
Cardinals starter Andre Pallante allowed three runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out three.
Willson Contreras’ RBI single in the sixth was the Cardinals’ lone run.
