Tigers split doubleheader as Wenceel Perez hits homers from both sides of plate in Game 2 win vs. Cardinals

DETROIT — The Tigers mustered one run in the first game Tuesday, spoiling a 14-strikeout performance by Jack Flaherty.

But in Game 2, the bats came alive.

Switch-hitting rookie Wenceel Perez hit home runs from each side of the plate and drove in three runs, helping the Tigers get the split, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2, 11-6, at Comerica Park.

Perez, who has hit three home runs in his last three games, is the first Tigers’ hitter to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game since Victor Martinez back on Aug. 30, 2018. The last rookie to hit homers from both sides of the plate in the same game? Raul Casanova, June 6, 1996, per Elias Sports Bureau.

The Tigers were already ahead 2-0 when Perez, leading off the second inning batting right-handed against Cardinals’ lefty starter Steven Matz, launched an opposite-field homer over the wall in right center.

Perez, who singled in the fourth inning, came to bat with two outs and a runner on in the fifth. The Cardinals had scored five times in the top of the inning to take a 5-4 lead. The Tigers tied the game off right-handed reliever Kyle Leahy.

Spencer Torkelson blooped a double, sending Mark Canha to third. He scored on a ground out by Jake Rogers.

The Cardinals brought in right-hander Ryan Fernandez to face Perez, who turned around to hit left-handed for the first time. He pounced on a 2-1 slider and drove it deep into the seats in right field.

Riley Greene, who homered in the first game, launched his seventh home run of the season, a towering drive to right field that ignited a four-run outburst in the seventh that including an RBI double by Rogers and a bases-loaded walk by Parker Meadows.

Greene, hitting out of the cleanup spot against a left-handed starter, also singled and doubled in the game and raised his OPS to .912 on the year.

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