Tale of two halves: Pivotal 6th inning sinks Tigers

ST. LOUIS -- The Detroit Tigers went from an extreme high to an extreme low in the same inning on Sunday.

After plating five runs in the top of the sixth, four of which came on a Jake Rogers grand slam, the Tigers gave it all back in the bottom of the frame as the St. Louis Cardinals grabbed the finale of the three-game set, handing Detroit a 12-6 loss and snapping its five-game winning streak.

The Cardinals, losers of their previous eight games, scored seven times in the bottom of the sixth off three Tigers pitchers. St. Louis took advantage of three fielding errors, a hit batter and executed a double steal in the inning.

“Just misplays, I mean, it happens, it’s frustrating when it happens, you know, in the same inning and multiple times and we just couldn't get that ending to end,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “And this is what happens in the big leagues. When you give them enough chances, somebody's going to deliver a big blow or somebody's going to get a hit and the inning couldn't end.”

Two of the fielding errors were on third baseman Nick Maton and the other was on shortstop Javier Báez, who also committed another error that led to a Cardinals run in the second. The last time the Tigers committed three errors was on June 4, 2021, in a 9-8 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

“It's baseball, man,” Maton said. “We've seen everything. You gotta keep grinding whatever happens, you just gotta keep pushing forward. I mean, the game's not won in the sixth inning, a ton of stuff goes on, whether it's good or bad.”

The big blow was left fielder Brendan Donovan’s three-run homer off right-hander Mason Englert. The 407-foot shot came on the first pitch, right after Englert struck out Willson Contreras in a 12-pitch struggle in a day featuring 90-degree temperatures and high humidity.

“Credit to him for going up aggressive and getting after it,” Hinch said. “They put a ton of pressure on Englert both on the bases and with their swings. But the long at-bat always usually affects the next at-bat in some way, but first pitch out there and we're not talking about a long at-bat that affected him. It's the nature of the competition.”

The meltdown immediately followed another Tigers rally that seemed to have the team poised for a third-straight comeback win.

First baseman Spencer Torkelson started the rally with a single, and left fielder Eric Haase reached on a Cardinals fielding error of their own by shortstop Tommy Edman. Miguel Cabrera, who started at designated hitter in his final start at Busch Stadium, singled home Torkelson to cap a 2-for-3 day, chasing reliever James Naile from the game.

JoJo Romero entered and walked Zach McKinstry on four straight pitches to load the bases for Rogers, who worked the count full before launching a 413-foot laser into the Tigers’ bullpen to give Detroit a short-lived 6-3 lead. It was Rogers’ second career grand slam.

“We just had some people on base, I wanted to get those guys in,” Rogers said. “Got myself into a good count, he grooved a heater and I had a good swing on it and hit it pretty good. That was fun.”

Torkelson got the Tigers going with a solo homer in the fourth. Torkelson has a three-game hitting streak and is hitting .357 (5-for-14) during that span.

“Really proud of the way we battled,” Torkelson said. “Obviously, we lost but won the series and a lot of positives to take away and some negatives to learn from.”

Righty Alex Faedo, making his first start of the season, allowed three runs -- two earned -- in 4 2/3 innings. He allowed three hits, struck out one and didn't allow a free pass -- 50 of his 72 pitches were strikes.

“I am trying to pound the zone,” Faedo said. “I feel like count leverage is a lot about pitching and trying to stay ahead of hitters.”

But two of Faedo’s hits that he allowed ended in the center-field bleachers off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt, who added another two-run homer off lefty Tyler Holton in the eighth.

Even with the setback, Detroit rolls into Cleveland having won five of its last six games.

“I'm encouraged because we won the series, which is good,” Hinch said. “It doesn't feel good in the moment because of the way today went. But we keep playing substantially better than we had at the beginning of the season, win the series, get to the next city healthy and feeling good.”