It was the home opener at Comerica Park for the Detroit Tigers and they made the most of it with Framber Valdez keeping the Cardinals bats quiet as the Tigers defeated St. Louis 4-0.
Framber Valdez only allowed 3 Cardinals hits through 6 innings and the Detroit Tigers bullpen kept St. Louis off the scoreboard, too. The Friday afternoon Comerica Park home opener wasn’t without St. Louis Cardinals highlights, though, as Jordan Walker fired a missile from right field in the bottom of the 3rd inning.
Victor Scott II also made a great play in the bottom of the first and JJ Wetherholt made a diving grab in the bottom of the 8th after he entered the game as a DH later in the game. Michael McGreevy wasn’t nearly as sharp as he was in his first start of the year as he allowed 7 hits and 3 runs through 4 2/3 innings.
All of the offense came in the middle innings as the Detroit Tigers got on the board in the 4th inning when Dillon Dingler hit a 433 foot two run homer to left center.
Riley Greene singled in another run in the 5th inning to give Detroit a 3-0 lead. Javy Baez added another RBI single in the bottom of the 6th inning to close out the scoring. The only St. Louis Cardinals hits came from Masyn Winn, Ivan Herrera, Alec Burleson, Thomas Saggese and Victor Scott II.
Friday’s loss to Detroit gives St. Louis a 4-3 record for the still very early season. The Cardinals will try again on Saturday, April 4, 2026 when Dustin May gets the start for St. Louis and former Cardinal Jack Flaherty will take the mound for the Tigers in a 12:15pm scheduled start.
