ST. LOUIS - Kolten Wong hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning and Lance Lynn got his fifth career RBI to back his dominant pitching as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers 2-1 on Sunday night to avoid a three-game sweep.
Miguel Cabrera's RBI double in the first was the only damage against Lynn (3-3), who gave a weary bullpen a break before walking the last two batters he faced - Ian Kinsler and Cabrera - on eight straight balls at the end of his 71/3 innings.
Seth Maness' only pitch resulted in a double-play ball by J.D. Martinez to end the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal finished for his 13th save in 14 chances.
Matt Carpenter added two hits and Peter Bourgos tripled and scored on Lynn's single in the third. The Cardinals improved to a major league-best 25-12 despite having two players thrown at the plate - the last on a relay from left fielder Yoenis Cespedes that caught Jhonny Peralta and left them with nothing to show for three hits in the seventh.
St. Louis had three late-inning gaffes on the bases in Saturday's 4-3, 10-inning loss.
Cabrera has four homers and nine RBI the last four games, including his 400th homer Sunday.
Alfredo Simon (4-2) gave up two runs in six innings for the Tigers, whose three-game winning streak ended.
Wong had been 1-for-8 in the series before hammering Simon's fastball an estimated 434 feet to right with one out in the sixth.
Lynn entered the game a career .071 hitter and has three hits this year, all singles. He sliced a pitch down the right-field line to tie it at 1 in the third.
Notes: Cardinals GM John Mozeliak said it's too soon to consider a demotion to the bullpen for 23-year-old Carlos Martinez, 3-2 with a 4.73 ERA and struggling to go deep, especially with lefty Marco Gonzalez scuffling in the minors. ... Cabrera is the third youngest player to hit 400 homers at 32 years, 28 days. He trails only Alex Rodriguez (29 years, 316 days) and Albert Pujols (30 years, 222 days). ... Matt Adams is in a 2-for-33 slump. ... John Lackey (2-2, 3.22) is the scheduled starter to open a seven-game trip tonight against the Mets' Matt Harvey (5-1, 2.31).