Pérez homers from both sides of plate in Tigers 11-6 win over Cardinals to split DH after losing 2-1

DETROIT (AP) — Wenceel Pérez hit homers from both sides of the plate, including a tiebreaking blast in the fifth inning, to help the Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-6 Tuesday night to split a doubleheader.

“There's some energy around Wenceel and we want more of it,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.

In the opener, Jack Flaherty tied an American League record with seven straight strikeouts to start a game and struck out a career-high 14 before St. Louis rallied against a usually bullpen with a two-run ninth inning to beat Detroit 2-1.

“It’s good to steal that one,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said after his team won for the first time in 15 games this season when trailing after eight innings.

Flaherty was fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 in St. Louis and finished fourth in Cy Young Award voting the following year with an 11-8 record and a 2.75 ERA for the Cardinals, who dealt him last season at the trade deadline.

“I knew it would be emotional for him to pitch against, the Cardinals, the team that he grew up in the big leagues with,” Hinch said. “What I didn’t know was he was going to bring his best fastball in the first inning and then just take off, and dominate.”

The Tigers went ahead again in the second game and pulled away with a four-run seventh.

Perez hit a right-handed, opposite-field solo shot in the second inning off Steven Matz and a left-handed, two-run homer against Ryan Fernandez to put Detroit ahead 7-5.

The 24-year-old Dominican became the first rookie to clear the fences for the franchise hitting right and left handed in the same game since Raúl Casanova in 1996, and the first Tiger with any level of experience to do it since Victor Martinez in 2018.

Perez hit a homer for the first time in the majors on Sunday in his 16th game.

“He deserves opportunity,” Hinch said.

Tyler Holton (2-0) allowed a run in one inning in relief of Matt Manning. Kyle Leahy (0-1) took the loss after giving up two runs on two hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Detroit jumped out to a 4-0 lead through four innings before the Cardinals went ahead with a five-run fifth, powered by Brendan Donovan's two-run homer off Matt Manning and Alec Burleson's three-run shot off Holton.

St. Louis pulled within a run in the seventh, but the Tigers built a cushion with Riley Greene's second homer of the day to help them build a five-run advantage.

In the opener, Flaherty’s game-opening seven strikeouts matched the AL record shared by four other pitchers. Miami Marlins right-hander Pablo López set the major league record by striking out the first nine batters of a game in 2021.

“You could kind of feel it early on in the game,” Detroit coach Carson Kelly said. “Actually before the game, he was on a mission.”

Flaherty kept the Cardinals off balance and flailing at four-seam fastballs and knuckle-curveballs.

“He was on, and it was nasty,” Marmol said. “He had his stuff.”

The 28-year-old matched the most strikeouts in the majors this season and the most for the Tigers since Max Scherzer had 14 against Pittsburgh in an eight-inning outing on Aug. 14, 2014.

Greene hit a fourth-inning home run off Kyle Gibson.

Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Alec Burleson had one-out singles in the ninth, with Burleson's driving in the tying run off Shelby Miller (3-3). Pedro Pages followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for his first RBI in the majors in his fifth game.

Matthew Liberatore (1-1) struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth, and Ryan Helsley fanned two in a perfect ninth for his 10th save in as many chances.

Gibson made the comeback possible by holding Detroit to one run on four hits over seven innings.

“It was good duel,” Marmol said. “Those two guys went at it, and both of them looked really, really good.”

UP NEXT

Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (2-3, 5.91 ERA) and Tigers RHP Kenta Maeda (0-1, 5.96) are scheduled to pitch in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon.

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Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Matt Manning walks on the mound as St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan rounds the bases after a two-run home run during the fifth inning in the second game of a baseball doubleheader, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers' Wenceel Pérez is greeted by Spencer Torkelson after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning in the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

St. Louis Cardinals outfielders Alec Burleson, left, Michael Siani (63), and Lars Nootbaar celebrate the win by the Cardinals over the Detroit Tigers in the ninth inning in the first game of a baseball doubleheader, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Matt Manning throws during the third inning in the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Kyle Leahy throws during the fourth inning in the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson throws during the first inning in the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers designated hitter Riley Greene rounds the bases after a solo home run during the fourth inning in the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty throws during the fifth inning in the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

St. Louis Cardinals' Masyn Winn tosses his bat after striking out during the fifth inning in the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty throws during the sixth inning in the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers' Wenceel Pérez rounds the gases after his two-run home run during the fifth inning in the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The world's leading artificial intelligence companies pledged at the start of a mini summit on AI to develop the technology safely, including pulling the plug if they can't rein in the most extreme risks.

World leaders are expected to hammer out further agreements on artificial intelligence as they gathered virtually Tuesday to discuss AI’s potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation.

The AI Seoul Summit is a low-key follow-up to November’s high-profile AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, where participating countries agreed to work together to contain the potentially “catastrophic” risks posed by breakneck advances in AI.

The two-day meeting -- co-hosted by the South Korean and U.K. governments -- also comes as major tech companies like Meta, OpenAI and Google roll out the latest versions of their AI models.

They're among 16 AI companies that made voluntary commitments to AI safety as the talks got underway, according to a British government announcement. The companies, which also include Amazon, Microsoft, France's Mistral AI, China's Zhipu.ai, and G42 of the United Arab Emirates, vowed to ensure safety of their most cutting edge AI models with promises of accountable governance and public transparency.

The pledge includes publishing safety frameworks setting out how they will measure risks of these models. In extreme cases where risks are severe and “intolerable," AI companies will have to hit the kill switch and stop developing or deploying their models and systems if they can't mitigate the risks.

Since the U.K. meeting last year, the AI industry has “increasingly focused on the most pressing concerns, including mis- and dis- information, data security, bias and keeping humans in the loop,” said Aiden Gomez CEO of Cohere, one of the AI companies that signed the pact. "It is essential that we continue to consider all possible risks, while prioritizing our efforts on those most likely to create problems if not properly addressed.”

On Tuesday evening, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are to meet other world leaders, industry bosses and heads of international organizations for a virtual conference. The online summit will be followed by an in-person meeting of digital ministers, experts and others on Wednesday, according to organizers.

While the U.K. meeting centered on AI safety issues, the agenda for this week’s gathering was expanded to include “innovation and inclusivity,” Wang Yun-jong, a deputy director of national security in South Korea, told reporters Monday.

Wang said participants will subsequently “discuss not only the risks posed by AI but also its positive aspects and how it can contribute to humanity in a balanced manner."

The AI agreement will include the outcomes of discussions on safety, innovation and inclusivity, according to Park Sang-wook, senior presidential adviser for science and technology for President Yoon.

Governments around the world have been scrambling to formulate regulations for AI even as the technology makes rapid advances and is poised to transform many aspects of daily life, from education and the workplace to copyrights and privacy. There are concerns that advances in AI could take away jobs, trick people and spread disinformation.

This week's meeting is just one of a slew of efforts to draw up AI guardrails. The U.N. General Assembly has approved its first resolution on the safe use of AI systems, while the U.S. and China recent held their first high-level talks on AI and the European Union's world-first AI Act is set to take effect later this year.

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Chan contributed to this report from London.

FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunk, center, speaks during a plenary session at the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, England, on Nov. 2, 2023. South Korea is set to host a mini-summit this week on risks and regulation of artificial intelligence, following up on an inaugural AI safety meeting in Britain in 2023 that drew a diverse crowd of tech luminaries, researchers and officials. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File)

A screen shows an announcement of the AI Seoul Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. World leaders are expected to adopt a new agreement on artificial intelligence when they gather virtually Tuesday to discuss AI’s potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A screen shows an announcement of the AI Seoul Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. World leaders are expected to adopt a new agreement on artificial intelligence when they gather virtually Tuesday to discuss AI’s potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)