After a triumphant series start on Monday against the Astros, the Tigers were feeling pretty good going into Tuesday night’s game. The 10-0 victory was certainly a fire under the team, as was the presence of Tigers’ ace Tarik Skubal on the mound. Getting the nod for the Astros was Hunter Brown. Brown, a Detroit native, grew up a Tigers fan, but that didn’t mean they were going to go easy on him.
After a brief delay due to potential weather, the game got underway about thirty minutes late. Jeremy Pena
got a leadoff walk, but then got eliminated in a force out off the bat of Carlos Correa. Jose Altuve then hit into a double play to end the inning. Gleyber Torres got a one-out single in the home half, then one out later, Riley Greene took a walk. The Tigers were not able to convert the baserunners, however.
The Astros went 1-2-3 in the top of the second. Wenceel Perez, really having himself a nice later part of the season, hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning. He did get caught stealing, though, and the Tigers weren’t able to get another baserunner in the inning.
With two outs in the top of the third, Skubal had a bit of a rocky moment. Chas McCormick drew a walk, followed by a base hit from Pena. He did get out of the jam, collecting the final out against Correa to end the inning. In the home half, Trey Sweeney singled to start things off. A one-out single by Torres got Sweeney to third, but a double play off the bat of Kerry Carpenter ended the inning.
In the fourth, Yanier Diaz got a two-out single. Ramon Urias then doubled to deep right. Diaz went for home, and the call was close, initially called an out at home, but the Astros asked for a review. It was an exceptionally close call, without enough to warrant it being overturned, and the Tigers could let out a massive sigh of relief, because that was a big win for them.
In the bottom of the fourth, Riley Greene got a leadoff walk. This was unfortunately followed by a double play off of Spencer Torkelson, then a Perez groundout to end the inning.
Skubal was right back in his groove in the top of the fifth, getting the side out in order with three strikeouts in a row. Yowza. In the home half, Zach McKinstry got a leadoff triple (!!). Two outs followed, then Colt Keith walked. Alas, even with two on once more in this game, the Tigers couldn’t bring in a run.
The Astros went three-up, three-down in the top of the sixth. The Tigers did the same in the home half. With pitch counts inching higher for both starters this game was clearly going to come down to which bullpen flinched first. Brown was over 100 pitches at the end of six, so he wouldn’t be back in the next inning.
Skubal, though, was back for the seventh, and got the side out in order one last time for the game. His final line was 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K on 95 pitches. A remarkably similar outing to Flaherty’s great start on Monday: rough first innings then smooth sailing from there.
Bryan King replaced Brown in the home half and got the Tigers out in order.
Kyle Finnegan was the first out of the Tigers’ bullpen for the eighth. After two outs, it was an absolutely sick sliding catch from Kerry Carpenter that ended the inning. Bennett Sousa came out of the Astros pen next, and the Tigers went out 1-2-3. Really keeping this one dramatic right down to the wire, I see.
Will Vest came out for the ninth. Carlos Correa got a one-out single, but Jose Altuve hit into a double play. It was down to the bottom of the ninth if the Tigers were going to walk it off without extra innings. They’d need to get through Bryan Abreu to make it happen. Kerry Carpenter was initially called safe at first on a ball hit to right, but Abreu had managed to get his heel on the bag for the tag and the call was overturned for the first out of the inning. With two outs, Torkelson got to second on a fielding error by Jesus Sanchez. Taylor Trammell made one of the most insane catches I’ve seen for the final out of the inning, but then landed right on his back and didn’t get up right away. He ended up running off the field on his own, but it was quite the conclusion. Onto extra innings.
Vest continued his dominant relief effort with a 1-2-3 inning. In the home half, Kaleb Ort was in for the Astros. Perez was the ghost runner, and he advanced to third on a flyout from Andy Ibanez. Dillon Dingler got an intentional walk to get to Javier Baez. Baez couldn’t get it done, so it went to Jahmai Jones. Dingler advanced to second on defensive indifference, but it ultimately didn’t matter because he walked Jones to load the bases. Gleyber Torres came to the plate. It came to a full count with the rain starting to fall, and Ort walked Torres, walking in the walk-off run. The Tigers win. And to make it more perfect it was Torres’s 500th career RBI.
