One of Jordan Walker’s best all-around days in the big leagues was ruined on Saturday when the Tigers battered Cardinals pitching for 12 hits and four homers in an 11-6 victory for Detroit at soggy Comerica Park.

The game was played under threatening skies all day and it was halted with an out in the ninth inning when heavy rains fell. Eventually, the game was called after a 40-minute delay when the weather didn't relent.

Walker crushed a 459-foot grand slam – one that left the bat at 113.7 mph – but the Cardinals weren’t able to rally from a 7-1 deficit following a second straight poor start from right-hander Dustin May. In all, Walker had three hits, five RBI, a stolen base and an outfield assist to go with the grand slam.

The Cardinals walked five times and were hit by six pitches. However, they left eight men on base after going just 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game:  

A day after shining defensively against the Tigers, the 23-year-old Walker starred with the glove and the bat on Saturday. Walker finished with three hits and five RBI – four of them on a grand slam in the fifth inning that briefly got the Cardinals back within one run of the lead.

Walker helped the Cardinals to blunt a second-inning rally by throwing Colt Keith out at second base when he tried stretching a single into a double. In the third inning, Walker smacked a high fastball from Jack Flaherty up the middle to score Ivan Herrera, who had opened the frame with a double,

In the fifth inning, Flaherty helped the Cardinals jump-start a rally with his wildness. He hit JJ Wetherholt, walked Herrera, allowed an RBI double to Alec Burleson and Walked Nolan Gorman.

With Flaherty out of the game, Walker greeted Drew Anderson with a rocket of a grand slam. The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Walker turned on a thigh-high fastball on the inner half and hit it 459 feet to pull the Cards within 7-6. The ball traveled 459 feet and smacked off the brick wall where the Tigers have honored their greatest players with retired numbers.

"He's putting in a lot of work and he's playing with a lot of confidence," Marmol said of Walker. "That's a big swing for him today (on the grand slam). They go to the righty and for him to do that was awesome. A really good swing through the midd;e of the field of the field and when he stays in the air it's fun to watch."

In the seventh inning, Walker made it a three-hit day by staying on a pitch on the outer half and driving it into the outfield.  

Dustin May’s day got off a rough start and it proceeded to get worse as the game went along. May, the free-agent acquisition signed to a one-year, $12-million contract, took a 104.4 mph grounder off the outside of his ankle off the bat of Keith. Things devolved from there for May, who was pulled after 79 pitches and after he had surrendered seven hits, seven earned runs and two home ru

"He'll be sore, but he was able to pitch through it," manager Oliver Marmol said of the ball May took off his ankle to Cardinals.TV. "That got him pretty good and I'm glad he was able to stay in and give us some innings. But he battled through it for sure. So, I think he'll be fine, but he had to battle through it the rest of that outing."  

Keith came around to score in the first when a hit deflected off the glove of center fielder Victor Scott II. The Tigers pushed the score to 3-0 when Kerry Carpenter went with a tailing changeup from May and hit it over the wall in left for a two-run homer.

After the Cards clawed back to within 3-1, the Tigers padded their lead back to three on a sacrifice fly by a Carpenter. The game got away from May in the fourth when Spencer Torkleson hit a low-and-in curveball for a two-run homer.

The outing was troubling for May considering that he struggled in his Cardinals debut against the Rays in the third game of the season. That afternoon, Tampa Bay battered May for 10 hits, six earned runs and a walk over four innings of work.

May. 28, left Saturday’s start in Detroit with an unsightly 15.95 ERA through two outings. 

Flaherty, who pitched for the Cardinals from 2017-23, missed out on a chance to earn a win against his former team when he struggled with his control.

Flaherty failed to get through the required five innings to earn a win when he walked four batters and hit three more in four-plus innings of work. He struck out six, but was charged with five earned runs – three of them coming after he had been pulled and Anderson surrendered Walker’s grand slam.   

Flaherty flopped in his chance to get his first win of the season. Walks were also a problem in his first outing of 2026 on March 28 when he gave up four free passes and two earned runs over 4 1/3 innings in a loss to the Padres.  

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