James McCann smacked a grand slam to right-center to cap a six-run first inning, leading the Detroit Tigers to an 11-0 win and a three-game sweep of the Houston Astros.
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Jose Altuve dropped a routine popup that allowed a run to score, closer Will Harris couldn’t hold a one-run lead in the ninth inning and the Astros wasted a late rally in a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Mike Fiers allowed one unearned run, walked two and struck out six in 6 1/3 innings.
Iglesias quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count before hitting a ground ball to Astros first baseman Jason Castro.
James McCann caught George Springer attempting to steal second in the fifth inning with a perfectly placed ball thrown from his knees. After allowing eight runs in a disastrous start versus Cleveland on June 26, Verlander has responded by permitting that many runs over his last five starts.
“It was awesome to get that kind of offense”, Boyd said.
They got one, but it only lasted a few minutes. “We battled all night, but that’s a big hole”. Detroit, though, tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Miguel Cabrera and an RBI single from Nick Castellanos. George Springer singled to start the ninth, Altuve singled to short with one out and Carlos Correa looped a single to center to tie the score at 1-1.Rasmus hit a ball that shortstop Iglesias snared as it rolled into left and turned into a forceout at second while Altuve scored the go-ahead run. Castellanos beat out a two-out infield single to score Cabrera with Detroit’s sixth run. If Gonzalez, who is listed as day-to-day, can’t play for a game or two, that would leave Houston with just its backup catcher as its reserve. “That wasn’t how I envisioned this game going”.
Collins hit a three-run shot off Chris Devenski deep into the rightfield seats – a no-doubter – to give the Tigers an early 9-2 lead. Detroit CF Tyler Collins is 4-for-7 with three RBIs and three runs scored in the series.3.
“We had to make a move”, Hinch said. “It was a bad night, but we are going to fight for all 27 outs”.
Astros: INF Marwin Gonzalez (hand) and OF Carlos Gomez (hamstring) were both out of the lineup with minor injuries, leaving C Evan Gattis as the only healthy player on Houston’s bench. He’s expected to miss the entire weekend series in Detroit.
Tigers: OF J.D. Martinez (elbow) and RHP Jordan Zimmermann (neck) both got clean bills of health after playing on a rehab assignment Friday for Triple-A Toledo. He still hasn’t played the field, but the Tigers are hoping to have him back by week’s end.
As of Saturday afternoon, Doug Fister and his wife still awaited the birth of their first child, so whether the veteran righthander makes his scheduled start Monday is up in the air.
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he never seriously considered taking out his ace, who had thrown 96 pitches through eight innings.
HOUSTON: The Astros are 6-1 in Keuchel’s last seven starts versus the American League Central and have won 17 of his last 21 starts coming off five days of rest.
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“Didn’t look like we were going to win the game”, Verlander said. His career ERA against the Tigers is 3.24.
