ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals avoided a series sweep Sunday night behind power pitching and a power swing.
Lance Lynn fastballed his way through the hard-hitting Detroit Tigers’ lineup for 7 1/3 innings Sunday night, and second baseman Kolten Wong supplied the key hit in the Cardinals’ 2-1 win at Busch Stadium.
Wong snapped a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth, rocketing the first pitch from Detroit starter Alfredo Simon 434 feet over the St. Louis bullpen and into the right-center-field seats for his fifth homer.
Lynn (3-3) gave up six hits and a run, walking two and fanning seven as he won his second consecutive start. He became the first Cardinals starter to pitch past the sixth inning since John Lackey went 7 2/3 innings in a May 7 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Lynn departed after issuing his only walks to second baseman Ian Kinsler and first baseman Miguel Cabrera in the eighth. Seth Maness relieved and induced a first-pitch, double-play grounder from right fielder J.D. Martinez.
Closer Trevor Rosenthal worked around a two-out single by catcher James McCann in the ninth for his 13th save in 14 chances as St. Louis (25-12) upped its National League Central lead over the second-place Cubs to four games.
Simon (4-2) permitted seven hits and two runs over six innings, walking four and fanning four. Detroit (23-15) saw its three-game winning streak end.
The Tigers scored first for the third consecutive game. In the first inning, first baseman Miguel Cabrera laced a one-out double to the right-center-field wall, plating second baseman Ian Kinsler from first. It was Cabrera’s 30th RBI in 38 games.
St. Louis equalized in the third in surprising fashion. After center fielder Peter Bourjos rifled a leadoff triple to the center field wall, Lynn sliced an RBI single down the right field line. It was just the seventh hit in 71 at-bats by Cardinals pitchers this year, three of them by Lynn.
The Cardinals left two men aboard in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos cut down Matt Carpenter at the plate in the fifth as the St. Louis third baseman tried to score on Jhonny Peralta’s one-out bouncer with men at second and third.
NOTES: St. Louis recalled RHP Sam Tuivailala from Memphis and optioned LHP Tyler Lyons to the Triple-A club. Tuivailala was 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA in 12 outings at Memphis. Lyons didn’t pick up a decision in three starts for St. Louis. … After his game-winning single in the 10th inning Saturday, Detroit SS Jose Iglesias was batting .472 (17-for-36) from the seventh inning on. … The Cardinals announced that LHP Jaime Garcia (shoulder) would come off the 15-day disabled list to start Thursday at the New York Mets. Garcia pitched six innings in a rehab start Friday night for Double-A Springfield.