Wild squirrel invasion inspires St. Louis Cardinals to beat Detroit Tigers

Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Cardinals have admitted that a wild squirrel helped them rally to beat the Detroit Tigers.

"Rally Squirrel" ran onto the field on Sunday at Comerica Park in Detroit. Neither team had scored a run through the first six innings of the bout, before the rallying rodent inspired the Cardinals to come away with a 5-2 triumph.

Matt Adams began the seventh frame with a strikeout. Then Marcell Ozuna walked up to the plate to face Tigers starter Michael Fulmer. The squirrel then ran onto the field and stood between second and third base. It then bolted for first base, skipping over a touch of second in an illegal base running blunder.

The squirrel stopped momentarily and looked toward Tigers first baseman Jim Adduci, who clapped his glove, prompting the squirrel to run into foul territory. It then ran back into the outfield before returning to the dirt in the infield.

After the squirrel cleared the area, Ozuna singled. Paul DeJong and Kolten Wong also singled, scoring Ozuna for the game's first run. Yairo Munoz followed the three consecutive base knocks with an RBI sacrifice fly. Fulmer then walked Greg Garcia, before Carson Kelly plated Wong with another RBI single, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

The Tigers yanked Fulmer for reliever Victor Alcantara, but the Cardinals weren't finished scoring. Matt Carpenter brought in Munoz on another sacrifice fly before Jose Martinez plated Garcia with an RBI single.

Detroit added its only two runs of the game in the bottom of the inning, courtesy of a Mikie Mahtook RBI groundout and a Ronny Rodriguez RBI double.

The Tigers claimed a 2-1 series victory against the Cardinals. The Cardinals host the Pittsburgh Pirates at 8:15 p.m. on Monday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Detroit hosts the defending World Series champion Houston Astros in a three game series, starting at 6:10 p.m. on Monday at Comerica Park.