Tigers beat Cardinals 6-3, avoid sweep

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ST. LOUIS (AP)—Rookie Rick Porcello(notes) beat the heat and the St. Louis Cardinals, whose starter had to be carried off the field.

Porcello won for the seventh time in nine starts while pitching in 90-degree heat and the Detroit Tigers shook off an offensive drought with a four-run first inning in a 6-3 victory on Thursday that avoided a three-game sweep.’

“It was a real good win for us because we were probably ripe for the sweep, to be honest,” manager Jim Leyland said. “A long, grueling trip. It would have been easy to say ‘Let’s go home, it’s been a long trip.”’

Placido Polanco(notes) and Marcus Thames(notes) homered in the eighth for the Tigers, who had scored three or fewer runs in their previous seven games. Detroit ended a four-game losing streak and won for the first time in six games at 4-year-old Busch Stadium counting three losses to end the 2006 World Series.

“It was huge,” said Gerald Laird(notes), who had an RBI double in the first. “We’ve been struggling with the bats for a while now and to come out and get a couple of hits was a good sign.”
 
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