There were no champagne showers or championship rings. All the Detroit Tigers got out of sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals was thoughts of what could’ve been.
“You wish we would’ve swung the bats like this in the World Series,” Detroit’s Sean Casey said after a 6-2 win Sunday completed a three-game sweep of the defending champions.
“You wish it was for all the marbles,” he said.
It was the last time the teams played in October, when the Cardinals won the World Series in five games.
“They’re a different team now,” said Casey, who was one of the Tigers’ few offensive standouts during the World Series. “And we’re playing pretty well.”
They sure are. The Tigers outscored the Cardinals 28-14 in the weekend series and remained tied with Cleveland for first in the AL Central.
Meanwhile, St. Louis fell 9 1/2 games behind NL Central-leading Milwaukee and is off to its worst start since manager Tony La Russa joined the club in 1996. The Cardinals finished a 2-7 road trip and have lost six of their last seven.
“It’s definitely a disappointing road trip,” Cardinals starter Brad Thompson said. “I hope we get back on track when we get home. We have to start playing better baseball, but I’m confident we can do it. I mean, look around this clubhouse. You’ve got All-Stars and future Hall of Famers.”
In other interleague games, it was: the New York Yankees 6, the New York Mets 2; the Chicago White Sox 10, the Chicago Cubs 6; the Los Angeles Angels 4, the Los Angeles Dodgers 1; San Francisco 4, Oakland 1; Boston 6, Atlanta 3; Cleveland 5, Cincinnati 3; Texas 14, Houston 1; Florida 4, Tampa Bay 3; Philadelphia 5, Toronto 3; Washington 4, Baltimore 3; Milwaukee 6, Minnesota 5; San Diego 2, Seattle 1; and Kansas City 10, Colorado 5 in 12 innings.
In the only NL game, Arizona beat Pittsburgh 5-2.
At Detroit, Brandon Inge homered and Justin Verlander (5-1) pitched eight strong innings to pick up his fourth victory in four May starts. Bobby Seay got one out for his first career save as the Cardinals lost their fifth straight.
Verlander, last year’s AL rookie of the year, has won all four of his career starts in interleague play. He gave up two runs and five hits with three strikeouts in his longest outing of the season.
Thompson (2-1) allowed five runs and five hits in 5 2-3 innings. Casey highlighted Detroit’s three-run sixth with a two-run double off reliever Tyler Johnson.
Yankees 6, Mets 2
Tyler Clippard (1-0) allowed one run and three hits in six innings in his major league debut, and the Yankees avoided a Subway Series sweep and stopped a three-game losing streak.
Alex Rodriguez hit his big league-leading 17th homer, and Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada also connected.
David Wright homered for the third time in two days for the Mets, and Damion Easley hit a two-out homer off Mariano Rivera in the ninth. John Maine (5-2) allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings in the loss.
White Sox 10, Cubs 6
At Wrigley Field, A.J. Pierzynski hit a grand slam in a seven-run seventh inning, Nick Masset won his first major league start and the White Sox avoided a sweep.
Carlos Zambrano (4-4) allowed six hits and seven runs in 6 2-3 innings.
Masset (2-1) gave up three hits and two runs in 5 2-3 innings.
Angels 4, Dodgers 1
At Anaheim, Calif., Kelvim Escobar (5-2) tossed eight shutout innings, and the Los Angeles Angels completed a sweep of the three-game series between the West division leaders.
Derek Lowe (4-5) went the distance, giving up nine hits and three earned runs.
Giants 4, Athletics 1
At Oakland, Calif., Matt Morris (5-1) pitched a two-hitter, struck out a season-high nine and San Francisco avoided getting swept.
Randy Winn and Rich Aurilia each homered and Dan Ortmeier had a career-high three hits.
A’s starter Joe Kennedy (1-3) allowed three runs and eight hits in 7 1-3 innings.
Red Sox 6, Braves 3
At Boston, Kason Gabbard came up from Triple-A and struck out a career-high seven while shutting out Atlanta for the first five innings. Gabbard (1-0) held Atlanta hitless through 3 2-3 innings and retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced.
Tim Hudson (6-2) stumbled in his worst start of the year, giving up four runs in the first inning and another in the second.
Indians 5, Reds 3
Paul Byrd stayed unbeaten this season at Jacobs Field and the Indians matched the best home start in their 107-year history.
Byrd (4-1) improved to 4-0 in Cleveland and the Indians pushed baseball’s best home record to 16-4. The only other time they started as well in home games was 1995, when the Indians also opened 16-4 – on the way to their first World Series appearance in 41 years.
Jhonny Peralta homered to start Cleveland’s four-run fourth against Aaron Harang (5-2).
Rangers 14, Astros 1
At Houston, Mark Teixeira and Victor Diaz each hit two of Texas’ season-high six home runs, and Ramon Vazquez also homered and drove in five runs.
Brandon McCarthy (4-4) allowed four hits and one run in six innings.
Houston’s Woody Williams (1-6) gave up eight hits and five runs in four innings.
Marlins 4, Devil Rays 3
At St. Petersburg, Fla., Sergio Mitre allowed three runs over seven innings and Florida rallied from a three-run deficit to complete a three-game sweep.
Mitre (2-2) gave up five hits and had three strikeouts, retiring 11 in a row during one stretch.
Shawn Camp (0-1) took the loss after starter James Shields allowed a run and five hits in seven innings.
Phillies 5, Blue Jays 3
Adam Eaton pitched six-plus shutout innings, and Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand both homered to lead host Philadelphia.
Eaton (4-3) walked five and struck out two for the Phillies, who got back to .500 for the third time in five days.
Alex Rios, Vernon Wells and Matt Stairs all hit solo home runs for Toronto in the loss. Jesse Litsch (1-1) took the loss.
Nationals 4, Orioles 3
Nook Logan’s two-run single in the eighth capped a comeback and prevented Baltimore from sweeping a three-game road series for the first time since 2005.
Orioles starter Erik Bedard tied a career high with 12 strikeouts. He left with a 3-1 lead after seven innings, and Danys Baez (0-3) took the loss.
Jesus Colome (3-0) threw a scoreless eighth.
Brewers 6, Twins 5
Geoff Jenkins hit his 200th career homer and had five RBIs, including the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, helping host Milwaukee rally from a four-run deficit.
Brewers reliever Matt Wise (1-1) pitched one inning for the victory, and Francisco Cordero struck out the side in the ninth to convert his 17th consecutive save.
Padres 2, Mariners 1
Justin Germano held host Seattle to an unearned run and six hits in six innings.
Germano (2-0) outpitched Mariners ace Felix Hernandez (2-2), who was making his second start after spending nearly a month on the disabled list with a strained right elbow.
Royals 10, Rockies 5, 12 innings
At Denver, Ryan Shealy had three hits and two RBIs against his former team, pitcher Joel Peralta (1-2) added a two-run double and Kansas City won its first road series of the season.
The Royals scored five runs off reliever Ramon Ramirez (1-1) in the 12th.
Diamondbacks 5, Pirates 2
At Pittsburgh, Randy Johnson struck out 10 in 5 2-3 innings to win his second consecutive start for Arizona. Johnson (2-2) gave up two runs and seven hits.
Paul Maholm (2-6) took the loss.
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