The AL Central Division-leading Tigers ended a four-game losing streak and won in St. Louis for the first time in eight years. Detroit had dropped six in a row on the Cardinals' home field, including three setbacks during the 2006 World Series.
Detroit scored four times in the first, with three of the runs unearned. St. Louis cut its deficit to one through five innings, but Polanco and Thames gave the Tigers some insurance in the eighth with their homers off Jason Motte.
With runners on second and third and nobody out in the first, Miguel Cabrera hit a grounder to third baseman Joe Thurston. A fielding error by Thurston allowed one run to score and led to a big inning for the Tigers.
Detroit also gave up two unearned runs, but rookie Rick Purcell (8-4) survived to win in his 13th major league start. He allowed eight hits over 5 2/3 innings.
Fernando Rodney collected his 13th save despite loading the bases with one out in the ninth. He got Rick Ankiel to ground into a double play to end the game.
The loss went to Joel Pineiro (5-8), who gave up only one earned run on five hits through seven innings.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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