Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jeff Locke drops the baseball as he tries to beat St. Louis Cardinals Matt Carpenter to the bag in the first inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Sunday. Locke was given an error on the play as Pittsburgh defeated St Louis 9-0. (Agencies)


Agencies/Detroit

Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer on Sunday and it broke the game open in the seventh inning, helping the Detroit Tigers finish off a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves with an 8-3 victory. Austin Jackson and Omar Infante also homered for the Tigers, and Doug Fister struck out eight in seven innings on a rainy night at Comerica Park.
“You’ve got to make sure ‘Skip’ gives you the sign to swing. That’s when you decide to swing or not swing,’’ Cabrera said. “That doesn’t mean you’re going to swing 3-0. You’ve got to make sure you get a good pitch to hit.’’
Atlanta’s Mike Minor (3-2) allowed a three-run homer to Jackson in the third, and although the Braves came back to tie it, Cabrera doubled and scored in the sixth to make it 4-3.
Infante hit a solo shot in the seventh, and Cabrera added an opposite-field homer on a 3-0 fastball by reliever Cory Gearrin.
“He’s the best I’ve ever seen, opposite-field power,’’ Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “A lot guys just don’t like to swing 3-0. I think they get caught where they don’t want to swing at a bad pitch. I think they get leery of it. ... I’ve given the green light more in Detroit than any time I’ve ever managed in my life, but most guys don’t swing.’’
The NL East-leading Braves have a 2 1/2-game lead over Washington in the division, with a four-game series against the Nationals starting today.
Elsewhere, Yoenis Cespedes tied the game with a two-run blast in the ninth inning and two errors in the 10th helped Oakland push across the winning run to avoid a four-game sweep against visiting Baltimore. Athletics beat Orioles 9-8.
Cespedes, in his first game back from a hand injury, belted his tying homer off reliever Brian Matusz and Jerry Blevins (1-0) pitched a perfect 10th to get the win.
Eric Sogard singled and scored after the Orioles threw the ball away on consecutive sacrifice bunt attempts in the 10th, while Seth Smith had a two-run homer and three RBIs for Oakland.
Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon homered and Jeremy Guthrie worked into the seventh inning as Kansas City blanked visiting Cleveland in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
Guthrie (3-0) tied a franchise record by going 16 consecutive starts without a loss for Kansas City, which has won five of its last six games.
Cleveland’s Justin Masterson (4-2) gave up seven runs on nine hits while striking out a career-high nine over 6 1/3 innings.