Justin Verlander helped save Detroit's season with a gutsy pitching effort as the Detroit Tigers recorded a 7-5 victory Thursday that cut the Texas Rangers' lead to 3-2 in the American League championship series. Delmon Young hit two of Detroit's four homers and Miguel Cabrera had a tiebreaking double in the sixth inning – thanks to a bizarre bounce off third base. “I have that bag in my office right now. And that will be in my memorabilia room at some point in my life, I can promise you,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. After building a five-run cushion, Detroit held on despite Nelson Cruz's record fifth home run of the series. With closer Jose Valverde unavailable for the Tigers, Texas cut it to 7-5 in the ninth and had Cruz on deck when Phil Coke retired Mike Napoli on a game-ending groundout with two runners on. Coke got five outs for his first career postseason save. “Cokie came through for us,” Leyland said. “A little different situation for him, but he was up to the challenge.” The Rangers get another chance to reach the World Series for the second straight season in Game 6 Saturday at home. Derek Holland will start for Texas against Max Scherzer. A swift turn of events in the sixth helped Detroit pull ahead. The Tigers turned a bases-loaded double play to keep the score tied at 2-2, then opened the bottom half with a single, double, triple and homer – in order – to take a 6-2 lead. It was the first time four consecutive batters on one team hit for a “natural” cycle in a postseason game, according to STATS LLC. The Rangers were the ones who seemed on the verge of breaking the game open in the sixth, loading the bases with one out. But then Ian Kinsler hit a grounder right to third baseman Brandon Inge, who merely had to step on the bag and throw to first for a double play. In St. Louis, veteran Randy Wolf pitched the biggest game of his 12-year MLB career, lifting Milwaukee to a 4-2 win over St. Louis to level their playoff series at 2-2 Thursday. Game 5 is Friday when Jaime Garcia will start for St. Louis against Milwaukee's Zack Greinke. Wolf tossed seven innings, giving up just two runs as he outsmarted the Cardinals' batters despite surrendering two solo home runs. It was the longest postseason game for left-hander Wolf who got his first playoff victory at age 35. “It was the biggest game I have ever pitched in and the biggest win of my career,” Wolf said. “I was thankful to just get another chance to be out here and pitch a game.” Ryan Braun also had two hits for the Cardinals, who were desperately trying to avoid going down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. Braun singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Matt Holliday and Allen Craig homered for the Cardinals, representing their only runs in the last 16 innings. Wolf said he threw two good pitches to Holliday and Craig but the Cardinal batters just outfoxed him at that moment. “I can live with those two solo home runs,” Wolf said. The Brewers ended an eight-game on-the-road losing streak in the playoffs dating to the 1982 World Series opener at St. Louis.
