Wenceel Pérez hit home runs from both sides of the plate, including one that broke the tie in the fifth inning, helping the Detroit Tigers win 11-6 against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night in a doubleheader split.
“There’s some excitement around Wenceel and we want more of it,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.
In the first game, Jack Flaherty set an American League record by striking out seven straight batters to start the game and had a career-high 14 strikeouts. The Cardinals rallied in the ninth inning against the usually strong bullpen of the Tigers to win 2-1.
“It’s good to steal that one,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said after his team won for the first time in 15 games this season when trailing after eight innings.
Flaherty was fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 with the Cardinals and finished fourth in Cy Young Award voting the following year. He was traded last season.
“I knew it would be emotional for him to pitch against the Cardinals, the team that he grew up in the big leagues with,” Hinch said. “What I didn’t know was he was going to bring his best fastball in the first inning and then just take off, and dominate.”
The Tigers took the lead again in the second game and secured the win with a four-run seventh inning.
