An unusually rough outing for Tarik Skubal, and zero run support spelled doom.
Happy Friday night from Minute Maid Park, where the Tigers faced off against the Astros to start the weekend series. Tarik Skubal was on the mound for Detroit and Hunter Brown in for the ‘Stros.
Here’s how the night went.
If you want a spoiler, this game stayed scoreless for a REALLY long time.
In the first the Tigers went 1-2-3. In the home half Jose Altuve doubled to start the inning, and advanced to third on an Alex Bregman groundout. Jeremy Pena was hit by a pitch, then stole second. But despite the baserunners, the Astros were unable to score.
Gio Urshela got a one-out single, followed by a Colt Keith single. Unfortunately two more outs ended the inning. The Astros went 1-2-3.
In a genuinely bizarre play, Ryan Kriedler was out at first after an overturned call and I’m going to be honest I’m really still not sure what the heck happened there. Anyway, two more outs followed anyway. Jose Altuve’s one-out walk in the bottom of the third was the only Astros baserunner.
The fourth went 1-2-3 for both sides.
Justyn-Henry Malloy got a one-out single in the top of the fifth, but two outs followed to leave him stranded. The Astros were three-up-three-down in the bottom half.
Riley Greene managed a two-out single in the sixth, but that was it for the Tigers. Bottom of the sixth Jose Altuve doubled again, then an Alex Bregman triple brought Altuve home for the first run of the game. A Yordan Alvarez sac fly scored Bregman. Yainer Diaz singled, and then things really broke open with a Mauricio Dubon home run, putting the Astros up 4-0.
The Tigers managed a lone Colt Keith single in the seventh, but no runs. In the bottom half Victor Caratini singled to start things off, then one out later, that was it for Tarik Skubal. His final line for the game was 6.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR on 84 pitches. Not his best night of the year, for sure. Beau Brieske came out in relief and got one out, then Jake Rogers got the third with a caught stealing.
The eighth was another 1-2-3 for the Tigers. Brieske continued in the bottom of the eighth and got the Astros out in order.
Josh Hader was the man out of the Astros pen to get the final three outs. The first was an absolute home run robbery by Jake Meyers who climbed the outfield wall to snag a Riley Greene ball. It was a play so good even Greene tipped a cap to it. The next two outs were less flashy, but still got the Tigers out with a big goose egg on the board.
Final: Astros 4, Tigers 0