This one went off the rails pretty badly.
Another night in Texas, and another opportunity for the Tigers up against the team that stole Justin Verlander from us. This time around, it would be Reese Olson on the mound for the Tigers, up against Ryan Gusto for the Astros, which truly is a name begging for me to make puns from it at some point.
In the top of the first, right after it appeared that a ball had grazed Kerry Carpenter and the Tigers opted not to review it, Carpenter hit a solo home run to open the game in style.
Two outs later, Riley Greene singled. Spencer Torkelson then joined him on the basepaths after getting hit by a pitch. Both of them would be left stranded though. In the home half Olson took out the Astros in order.
The top of the second saw Gusto put the Tigers down 1-2-3. With one out in the bottom half, Christian Walker singled, but two outs followed to keep the Tigers in the lead and Olson dealing his way nicely through the Astros’ order.
Gleyber Torres for a one-out single in the top of the third, but the Tigers didn’t manage to make it work for them. In the home half, Jeremy Peña got a one-out single but then Olson shut down the rest of the side. I’d love to be giving you more juicy details about this game so far, but the pitchers are being too efficient for me to elaborate on anything except: good pitching!
Spencer Torkelson got a leadoff walk to start the fourth, but again, three outs soon followed and the Tigers left a man stranded. Bottom of the inning and the Astros got a baserunner with an Isaac Paredes (hello old friend!) walk, but he was soon eliminated in a double play to end the inning.
Jace Jung started the fifth with a walk, and then on the next play it looked like Kerry Carpenter might have grounded into a double play, but the base was never properly tagged at second, meaning Jung was able to safely get into scoring position. It was a mistake by the Astros (that wasn’t called an error, btw), that would soon haunt them, as Gleyber Torres hit a ball into right that allowed Jung to score.
That was also the end of the night for Gusto.
Not so mucho Gusto, I guess.
Bennett Sousa replaced Gusto, and then gave up a single to Zach McKinstry. Torres and McKinstry then executed a double-steal, but the Tigers left them both stranded with two outs. Still, they’d gained a run to give them a 2-0 lead. Jake Meyers got a two-out single in the home half, but the Astros were unable to bring him home.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the inning Reese Olson started to show his first real signs of strain. Jose Altuve got a one-out walk, then one out later Paredes walked as well. A Christian Walker double off the center field wall scored Altuve, but the Astros inexplicably held Paredes at third, which hopefully would turn out to be a boon. That was the end of the game for Olson, whose final line was 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K on 90 pitches. Will Vest was poised to be the Tigers’ first reliever of the game. Turned out it didn’t matter that Paredes was held, because Vest gave up a single to Yanier Diaz into deep center to score two runs. Zach Dezenzo then singled to put men on the corners. Vest finally induced a groundball out, but the damage was definitely done.
Tayler Scott was the next Astros pitcher on in relief. He took the Tigers out in order, despite a very, very long fly by Carpenter that briefly looked as if it might tie up the game again. Vest continued to be a little uneven, missing the zone with his fastball, in the bottom of the seventh, giving up a leadoff single to Mauricio Dubon. Jeremy Peña then walked. With Altuve at the plate, tension was high. Blessedly, Altuve grounded into a double play, which certainly helped relieve a little stress. Of course, as soon as that pressure was slightly off, Vest gave up a single to Yordan Alvarez, scoring another Astros run. The wheels really came off at this point, Isaac Paredes tripled off the outfield wall, scoring yet another run, and that was it for Vest, who I think the Tigers had really hoped would carry a few extra innings. Chase Lee replaced Vest and walked Christian Walker, which is suiting, I suppose. Yainer Diaz then singled to bring in another run. It was only after all this they managed to get the final out, but the Astros were up 6-2 at the end of seven, so it wasn’t looking too good for the Tigers.
Bryan Abreu came out of the Astros’ pen for the eighth. McKinstry kicked things off with a ground-rule double. Spencer Torkelson then got a one-out walk, but the Tigers would leave them both stranded. Kenta Maeda came in for the bottom of the inning, because sure, I guess. Jung bobbled a liner to third but managed to grab it and get it to Torkelson for the first out, then almost duplicated the play (a little cleaner) for the second. Maeda then hit Peña with a pitch. They did collect the final out without any additional damage, though.
For the top of the ninth, the Tigers would be facing Josh Hader. With two outs, Kerry Carpenter doubled. Then Gleyber Torres went full hero mode with a two-run homer just to keep things interesting.
They weren’t able to complete a full comeback, but hey, at least they kept trying up until the bitter end.
Final: Astros 6, Tigers 4