Tigers 4, Cardinals 3: Miguel Cabrera makes history in wild victory

The Detroit Tigers won their third straight game and second in a row over the St. Louis Cardinals, taking home a 4-3 victory that was about as wild as regular season games get. A long rain delay in the first inning, multiple baserunning blunders from the Cardinals, and a milestone home run were only some of the events that happened in a five hour, 15 minute affair (delay included).

Miguel Cabrera opened the scoring and made history at the same time in the first inning, hitting his 400th career home run to dead center field off Cardinals starter Tyler Lyons. Cabrera's home run moved him past Andres Galarrage for the most all-time by a Venezuelan-born player. Cabrera's home run was the 262nd of his Tigers career, tying him with Willie Horton in fourth place in franchise history.

The game was delayed for an hour and 20 minutes in the bottom of the first. David Price threw two pitches to leadoff hitter Randal Grichuk before play was stopped. After the delay, Price struggled to get settled. He threw 30 pitches in the first inning and allowed a home run to Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter. Price allowed a second homer in the second inning, a solo shot off the bat of center fielder Peter Bourjos.

The Tigers regained the lead in the third inning with a pair of runs. Rajai Davis tripled to lead off the inning, then Ian Kinsler doubled him home in the next at-bat. After a Cabrera groundout and J.D. Martinez walk, Yoenis Cespedes lined a single to left field to score Kinsler, putting the Tigers up 3-2.

Price settled in after allowing the home run to Bourjos, working three very efficient innings to get through the fifth. He allowed a solo home run to Jhonny Peralta in the sixth, tying the game. The Cardinals should have taken the lead in the seventh inning, but a baserunning blunder by Jason Heyward kept them from scoring. After hitting a one-out double, Heyward was only able to advance to third base on a double off the wall by Grichuk. Carpenter and Matt Holliday were unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position, leaving the game tied.

After another baserunning blunder cost the Cardinals a shot at a run in the eighth, both teams traded scoreless ninth innings to send the game into extra innings. With two on and two out in the top of the 10th, Jose Iglesias looped a single into right-center to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.

Blaine Hardy was the Tigers' winning pitcher after working a scoreless ninth inning. Hardy walked Grichuk with Carpenter on deck, but retired the All-Star third baseman to end the inning. After the Tigers scored a run on a clutch two-out hit from Jose Iglesias in the top of the 10th, Joakim Soria worked a scoreless inning -- aided by yet another Cardinals baserunning blunder -- for his 12th save of the year.

ROARS:

Ian Kinsler: Another day, another multi-hit game for Kinsler. Ian had three hits on the afternoon and is now hitting .313 on the season.

Angel Nesbitt: The young righthander rewarded Brad Ausmus' faith when he stepped in and induced a pop-up off the bat of Matt Holliday to strand two runners in the seventh inning.

Miguel Cabrera: Congratulations on making history, Miguel.

The bullpen: Nesbitt was the one that got out of a pinch in the seventh, but Joba Chamberlain, Hardy, and Soria combined to work three scoreless innings the rest of the way.

HISSES:

Hernan Perez: He didn't leave any runners on base, but Perez looked as overmatched as ever in his lone at-bat of the day, striking out against lefthanded reliever Kevin Siegrist.

STREAKS AND STATS:

• Miguel Cabrera hit the 400th home run of his career in the first inning off Tyler Lyons. The home run moved him past Andres Galarraga for the most in MLB history by a Venezuelan-born player. It was the 262nd home run of Cabrera's Tigers career, tying him with Willie Horton for fourth place in franchise history.
• Rajai Davis' triple in the top of the third inning was the 30th of his career and the Tigers' 14th of the season. The 14 triples as a team ties them for the major league lead with the Kansas City Royals. Last season, the Tigers did not hit their 14th triple until July 9.
• J.D. Martinez drew a walk in the third inning, his 14th of the season and ninth of the month of May. Martinez did not draw nine walks in a single month in 2014. Martinez drew another walk later in the game, his 10th of the month.
• Ian Kinsler collected his 17th multi-hit game of the season today, breaking a tie with Jose Altuve and Prince Fielder for the American League lead.

WIN PROBABILITY GRAPH:

Source: FanGraphs