Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda throws during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Detroit.
11:00 JST, May 2, 2024
DETROIT (AP) — Kenta Maeda earned his first win for Detroit, allowing four hits in six innings Wednesday in a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals as the Tigers won two of three games in the series.
Matt Vierling had three RBIs for the Tigers, who are 31-16 against St. Louis in interleague play. The teams also met in three World Series, with the Cardinals winning in 1934 and 2006 and Detroit taking the title in 1968.
“That’s the team I grew up rooting for, so a day like this is huge,” said Vierling, a St. Louis native.
Maeda (1-1) allowed a fourth-inning home run to Willson Contreras that landed in the bushes above the center-field fence. He struck out five and walked none.
“Both pitchers filled the strike zone, but we were able to jump on top of them, which is always important in a series-deciding game,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “Kenta had some pretty good stuff.”
A 36-year-old right-hander who signed a two-year, $24 million contract this offseason. Maeda had a 7.64 ERA in his first four starts, but has lowered it to 5.02 by allowing one run over 11 innings in his last two. trips. He spent his first seven big league seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota.
Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda points to first baseman Spencer Torkelson after a play that ended the fifth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Detroit.
Contreras’ homer was the Cardinals’ only extra-base hit, and they walked only two.
“We had a few late situations where we had two runners and the guys we wanted at the plate,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “They didn’t go our way, but there will come a time when we start making crooked numbers about that. We just don’t have the ball at the moment.”
Alex Lange retired the side for his second save and took over for Jason Foley after Tuesday’s doubleheader.
“Our bullpen is not a one-man show or a two-man show,” Hinch said. “We have eight guys there who are ready when we need them. We had a few guys out today and that shifted the roles to different people.”
Miles Mikolas (2-4), facing Detroit for the first time, gave up three runs and six hits in six innings.
Vierling singled in the first inning and scored on Colt Keith’s double, then hit a two-run, two-out home run in the third and added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
