Detroit Tigers rally from early hole, beat Cardinals 6-5 (10) for 5th straight win

ST. LOUIS — The ball landed in Big Mac Land.

At that moment, it felt like the Detroit Tigers would finally lose.

Nolan Arenado, a seven-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger, had unloaded on right-hander Spencer Turnbull's fastball with two strikes and two outs in the fifth inning. The homer landed in the third deck in left field at Busch Stadium.

But the Tigers, relying on a scrappy brand of baseball, mounted another comeback and won, 6-5, in 10 innings Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals. The victory extended the Tigers' winning streak to five games.

In the 10th, Akil Baddoo hit a go-ahead ground-rule double off right-handed reliever Giovanny Gallegos. The Tigers (15-17) then took down the Cardinals in the bottom of the inning as first baseman Spencer Torkelson made a heads-up play to eliminate the extra-inning free runner trying to advance to third base.

BIG ARM: Alex Lange is closing games his way and the Tigers are buying it

HALL OF FAME QUESTION: Verlander coy about Hall of Fame cap, but here's why it's not his decision

Mess with the 'Bull

Back in the fifth inning, Turnbull came one strike away from limiting the Cardinals to three runs, but Arenado spoiled his already subpar performance and put the Cardinals ahead, 5-3.

The Tigers scored two runs across the sixth and seventh innings, both on singles from Torkelson, for a 5-5 tie.

Torkelson, the 2020 No. 1 overall pick, hit right-hander Adam Wainwright's first-pitch changeup for an RBI single in the sixth, then hit righty reliever Chris Stratton's first-pitch curveball for an RBI single in the seventh.

In the ninth inning, Andy Ibáñez ripped a leadoff single against Gallegos. Riley Greene, who continues to pull the ball a lot, dumped a full-count fastball into the right-field corner. This one went for a double, however — his second in as many games — to put two runners in scoring position.

But Javier Báez popped out, and Jonathan Schoop popped into a double play in foul territory. Ibáñez tried to score from third on Schoop's fly — either on his own decision or because third-base coach Gary Jones sent him — and was thrown out at the plate to end the top of the ninth.

Four relievers covered the final 4⅓ innings before extra innings: left-hander Chasen Shreve (1⅓ innings), right-hander Will Vest (1⅔ innings), lefty Tyler Holton (⅔ innings) and Cisnero (⅔ innings).

Bouncing back

Facing Turnbull, the Cardinals scored their first three runs in the second inning. The inning started with a five-pitch walk from Paul DeJong and continued with a single from Brendan Donovan.

Dylan Carlson, a left-handed hitter, then put the Cardinals in front, 3-0, with a three-run home run off Turnbull's down-and-in slider. After Andrew Knizer's ensuing single, Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter took a mound visit.

Then, Turnbull retired 11 of the next 12 batters.

JEFF SEIDEL: Why it's both cool and cruel to see Verlander and Scherzer back in Detroit — with the Mets

ACE-LIKE: Eduardo Rodriguez has a 0.52 ERA in past five starts for the Tigers. He's still not satisfied

In the fourth inning, Riley Greene robbed Knizer of extra bases when he crashed into the center-field wall while completing a leaping catch. The impressive catch concluded the fourth.

Turnbull, who missed the entire 2022 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, allowed five runs on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts. All five of those runs were scored on homers.

The 30-year-old threw 63 of 92 pitches and generated 14 whiffs. He induced whiffs on eight four-seam fastballs, one sinker, four sliders and one curveball, and his four-seamer averaged 93.3 mph.

He has a 7.26 ERA this season.

Waiting on Waino

The Tigers' offense was slow-to-start against Wainwright. The 41-year-old returned from the injured list — sidelined with a groin strain since the end of spring training — for his first start of the season.

He trademark curveball generated seven of his eight whiffs.

He dominated the Tigers until the fifth inning.

ROG: Tigers' Jake Rogers on facing Justin Verlander: 'My name will always ... be tied to his'

MORE ABOUT MAX: Jim Leyland says no, but Max Scherzer praises him for 'pushing me' with Tigers

In the fifth, Baddoo provided a leadoff single and proceeded to steal second. He advanced to third on Matt Vierling's flyout and scored the Tigers' first run on Eric Haase's bloop single to shallow left-center field.

The combination of Zack Short and Zach McKinstry, plus poor defense from the Cardinals, provided the second run, cutting the deficit to 3-2, as Short doubled and McKinstry hit a sacrifice fly.

The ball from McKinstry ended up in right field. Second baseman Brendan Donovan and right fielder Lars Nootbaar tracked down the pop up, with Donovan catching the ball. On the catch, however, the two players collided, and the collision allowed Haase to score from third base on a delayed throw to home plate.

The Tigers tied the game, 3-3, on Riley Greene's line-drive single to left field to conclude the three-run fifth inning. Wainwright allowed four runs on eight hits, zero walks and five strikeouts in five-plus innings.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers beat St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5 (10) for 5th straight win