DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers maintained the best record in Major League Baseball after taking down the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1.
After dropping the first game of the three-game series 11-4 on Monday (May 18), the gritty Tigers won Game 2 5-4 and Game 3 5-1 on the road to improve to 16-12 away from Comerica Park.
Detroit will travel home to host the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, May 22, 2025. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m.
With the victory, the Tigers improved to 33-17 while putting the league on notice. For the first time since 2006, the 2025 ball club has the best record in the show through 50 games.
Detroit walked into Busch Stadium on fire after winning a series against the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, but winning two out of three games over the Cardinals allowed them to record their 14th win in May.
Wednesday afternoon’s victory came at the hands of some “pitching chaos,” as Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch describes it.
Brant Hurter pitched three innings before Chase Lee tossed two innings, followed by Sean Guenther, Brenan Hanifee, Tyler Holton, and Beau Brieske, who saved the game with their 33rd victory of the season.
Hurter gave up the game’s lone run while allowing one walk and two strikeouts as he threw 24 strikes on 37 pitches.
Lee got his first win of the season, striking out two batters on 23 pitches while throwing 16 strikes.
Pitching chaos was coined during the 2024 season, but with Alex Cobb, Sawyer Gipson-Long, Casey Mize, and Reese Olson down with injuries, Hinch was able to pull off the concept.
In utter disbelief, the Tigers’ pitchers finished the day giving up one walk on 120 pitches, of which 80 were called for strikes.
Catcher Dillon Dingler spoke after the game about his pitchers’ performances against the Cardinals.
“Obviously, our pen (bullpen) has done a phenomenal job all season, and they showed it today,” said Dingler. “The struggle with a pen day is you kind of get into a rhythm that you would with the starter, but each single guy that came in today was able to close the door in every situation that they were given.”
Dingler, who went 2-4 at the plate with an RBI in the victory, spoke about what was clicking for him behind the plate and at the plate.
“We’ve been working in the cage,” Dingler said. “We have a great hitting staff that gets the boys right every day, so, just working on some cues and some different things that are ultimately getting me back to feeling comfortable. It’s feeling good right now, so try to ride it.”
Spencer Torkelson had two hits, one RBI, one run, and two walks. Thanks to Trey Sweeney‘s sac fly and Javier Báez‘s RBI single in the eighth inning, they took a 5-1 lead and coasted to another series victory.
Hinch talked about the resilience of his ballclub coming off losing Game 1 with bounce-back victories vs. the Red Birds.
“We’re pretty good at resetting and getting to the next game.
The reality is every day is a new test, and every day you have to come ready to play, and we do.
So, after the first game here, obviously, the most important game of the year was the next day.
We get that win and then come today to win a series, and we do it. And we needed a lot of guys to do well over the last two days, so whether it’s today with the bullpen game, the middle of our order on offense, the last two days have been great.
Big hits with two outs. We can use Brieske for two; we can rest Tommy (Kahnle) for tomorrow.
There’s just a lot of moving parts that set us up for winning a series today and going into the next one.”
Detroit Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch
The Tigers return to Detroit, where they are 17-5, for a seven-game homestand Thursday night with Jack Flaherty taking the mound against Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee.
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