ST. LOUIS — Two outs, full count, bases loaded.
Catcher Jake Rogers, better known for his defensive prowess, hammered a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning. When the ball cleared the fence, the Detroit Tigers appeared to be on their way to six wins in a row and back-to-back series sweeps.
But the Tigers collapsed in the bottom of the inning with three errors on defense — as the St. Louis Cardinals scored seven runs — in a 12-6 loss in Sunday’s series finale at Busch Stadium.
“I’m encouraged because we won the series, which is good,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “It doesn’t feel good at the moment because of the way today went, but we keep playing substantially better than we did at the beginning of the season.”
Paul Goldschmidt, the reigning National League MVP, blasted three home runs.
“I saw the ball go a long way on multiple pitches and different looks,” Hinch said. “He’s one of the premier players in our league and has been for a while. He’s one of the quiet superstars in the game and can hit the ball out to virtually every part of the park.”
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The Tigers (15-18) began their five-run sixth inning with a one-out single from Spencer Torkelson, and with two outs, the Cardinals provided the opportunity for runs when Eric Haase reached safely on a fielding error by shortstop Tommy Edman.
Miguel Cabrera scored Torkelson with a single to right field, trimming the Tigers’ deficit to 3-2. The Tigers sent right-handed Zach McKinstry to the plate as a pinch-hitter, which sparked a pitching change from the Cardinals.
Left-hander JoJo Romero walked McKinstry to load the bases. Rogers then ended up in a full count, and when he received a second straight sinker inside the strike zone, he didn’t miss the chance to mash.
Rogers launched a 413-foot grand slam — with a 104.6 mph exit velocity — to left-center for a 6-3 lead.
It was his fourth homer of the season.
An immediate answer
The Cardinals responded by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning against three pitchers: left-hander Tyler Alexander, right-hander Mason Englert and lefty Tyler Holton.
The Tigers’ defense made three of its four errors in the sixth inning, with one error from Javier Báez and two errors from third baseman Nick Maton. (Báez’s first error in the second inning led to a run, too.)
“No reason to make the mistakes,” Maton said. “That’s on me. I should have made the plays.”
Only three of the seven runs in the sixth were earned runs.
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The Cardinals flipped the score with singles, extra-base hits and too many mistakes from their opponent. Goldschmidt, who hit his first two homers off right-hander Alex Faedo, kicked things off with a leadoff single.
Trailing 6-4, Brendan Donovan cranked a first-pitch fastball from Englert for a three-run home run to right field for a 7-6 lead. Later on, Andrew Knizner doubled off Englert’s fifth-pitch fastball to drive in another run.
Those runs put the Cardinals ahead, 8-6, with one out in the sixth inning. Holton replaced Englert and gave up a two-run single to Lars Nootbaar, making it 10-6, then he escaped further damage by stranding two runners in scoring position.
“It’s baseball, man,” Maton said. “You got to keep grinding. Whatever happens, you just got to keep pushing forward. The game is not won in the sixth inning. A ton of stuff goes on, whether it’s good or bad, and you just got to keep on pushing. It’s not really deflating. Our team doesn’t really give up. We know not to give up.”
Goldschmidt hit his third home run of the game with a two-run shot off Holton in the eighth inning, extending the Cardinals’ lead to 12-6.
“That is the way the game goes sometimes,” Hinch said. “It’s frustrating because we worked hard to get back in the game. We’re going to have to make better plays. … We didn’t give ourselves a good enough chance.”
Torkelson homers
In the fourth inning, Torkelson put the Tigers on the board with a solo home run off left-hander Steven Matz. He hit an elevated changeup for a 418-foot homer to right-center field.
It was his first homer since April 19.
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Matz allowed one run on five hits with zero walks and two strikeouts across 5⅓ innings.
As for the Tigers, Faedo allowed two runs on three hits with zero walks and one strikeout across 4⅔ innings. Two of those three hits were solo homers. He threw 50 of 72 pitches for strikes, generated eight whiffs and recorded 12 called strikes.
His fastball averaged 92.9 mph.
“I thought he battled well,” Hinch said. “He obviously had a hard time with Goldschmidt, but getting him into the fifth (inning) was the goal. I thought he hung in there a little bit and mixed well with Jake. Outside of a few pitches that he’s going to want back, he gave us a chance to stay in the game.”
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers’ costly errors in 12-6 collapse vs. Cardinals