Kenta Maeda secured his first victory for Detroit by pitching for six innings and allowing only four hits in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday. With this victory, the Tigers won two out of three games in the series.
Matt Vierling contributed three RBIs for the Tigers, who have a record of 31 wins and 16 losses against St. Louis in interleague play. The teams have also faced each other in three World Series, with the Cardinals winning in 1934 and 2006, and Detroit claiming the title in 1968.
Maeda (1-1) gave up a home run to Willson Contreras in the fourth inning, which landed in the shrubbery above the center-field fence. He struck out five batters and didn’t issue any walks.
The 36-year-old right-handed pitcher, who signed a $24 million, two-year contract in the offseason, had a high ERA of 7.64 in his first four starts.
However, he has improved his performance, lowering his ERA to 5.02 by allowing only one run in 11 innings over his last two outings. Maeda previously played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins for seven seasons.
Alex Lange secured his second save by getting four outs.
Miles Mikolas (2-4), who faced Detroit for the first time, gave up three runs and six hits in six innings.
