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Pedro Pages’ sacrifice fly capped a two-run ninth-inning rally as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals spoiled former teammate Jack Flaherty’s career-high 14-strikeout performance by defeating the Detroit Tigers 2-1 in the first game of a doubleheader on Tuesday.

The Cardinals broke through against Shelby Miller (3-3) in the ninth. Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Alec Burleson hit consecutive singles to tie the game with one out. Pages’ sacrifice fly scored Goldschmidt with the go-ahead run.

Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson gave up one run and four hits while striking out nine over seven strong innings. Matthew Liberatore (1-1) struck out two batters in the eighth and picked up the win, while Ryan Helsley struck out two more in the ninth and recorded his 10th save.

Flaherty struck out the first seven batters he faced, matching the American League record to start a game, en route to his 14-strikeout afternoon. He gave up two hits in 6 2/3 innings. Riley Greene’s homer accounted for Detroit’s run.

The Tigers didn’t have a baserunner until Greene smashed a 2-0 fastball from Gibson over the center field fence to open the fourth. Greene’s sixth homer of the year was estimated at 421 feet. Gibson recovered quickly and struck out two of the next three batters.

Flaherty hit double digits in strikeouts by setting down Burleson with a high fastball at the start of the fifth.

Willson Contreras was the 13th victim for Flaherty in the sixth. The Tigers starter set a new career high by striking out Goldschmidt with a slider in the seventh to end his day.

Detroit had a threat in the seventh, as Kerry Carpenter walked, Spencer Torkelson singled and Carson Kelly walked with two outs. Gibson then struck out pinch hitter Mark Canha to leave the bases loaded.

Masyn Winn had a one-out single against Tigers reliever Andrew Chafin in the eighth. Jason Foley replaced Chafin and gave up a single to Ivan Herrera before retiring the next two batters to keep the score at 1-0.

Helsley struck out Carpenter and Torkelson and set down Colt Keith on a fly ball to end the contest.

–Field Level Media