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Two home runs and a late-inning surge from the Houston Astros sank the Detroit Tigers, 8-5, despite hitting three home runs on April 28, snapping Detroit's four-game winning streak.
The Tigers led initially, but the Astros took the lead on a pair of two-run home runs off starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, and pushed the lead out to an insurmountable margin with four runs scored in the seventh inning following two throwing errors by Trey Sweeney.
"We didn't do a ton of things to create our own energy until maybe the end," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "We did hit the ball out of the ballpark. We did a few good things.
"But that was a key inning for them to be able to separate in the game."
The Tigers (18-11) dropped the series opener and the first game of the 10-game road trip.
The Tigers drew first blood thanks to Kerry Carpenter's sixth home run of the year. With one runner on and two outs in the third inning, Carpenter drove a high and away fastball over the high fence in left field for an early two-run lead.
Riley Greene followed suit an inning later, hitting a solo home run to the same spot in left-center field to make it 3-0 in the Tigers' favor.
The Astros took the lead by the sixth inning on home runs from Christian Walker and Jose Altuve. Walker cut the Tigers' lead to one run with a two-out home run in the fourth, and Altuve put Houston ahead with a home run that played into ending Flaherty's outing in the sixth.
Houston added four insurance runs in the seventh inning that started with Sweeney's errors. Sweeney misfired on a throw to first to lead off the inning, and then tossed a would-be double play into right field, putting two runners on. The Astros strung together four hits after the errors to push the lead to five runs.
"The first one was a little bit of a tough (one)," Hinch said. "He kind of got caught on his heels a little bit and just tried to launch it to first.
"The second one, he just threw it wide."
Greene hit a second home run, his sixth of the year, to left field with a two-out, two-run shot in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to three runs, but the offense could not score any runs in the ninth.
Flaherty threw three scoreless innings and seemed on his way to a fourth, but walked Isaac Paredes to keep the inning alive. The next at-bat, Christian Walker hit a two-run home run to cut the Tigers' lead to one run.
Jeremy Peña led off the sixth inning with a single, setting up another two-run home run in the next at-bat from Jose Altuve, who sent Flaherty's fastball to the train tracks above left field at Daikin Park.
The two home run swings marred what was a solid start from Flaherty. In five innings, he gave up six hits and two walks for four runs while striking out four. He struck out two with his fastball, one with his knuckle curveball and one with his slider.
"The pitch to Walker is one he probably wants to get back to and then, obviously, Altuve," Hinch said. "He got burned by some mistakes, but generally I thought he was in command of the game until a pitch or two got away."
Flaherty induced 10 swings and misses, including five with his knuckle curveball. He is now 1-3 with a 3.34 ERA after six starts.
Brenan Hanifee replaced him and got out of the sixth, but gave up four unearned runs in the seventh following Sweeney's errors.
The Tigers finished with five hits, three coming via Carpenter and Greene's home runs. The Tigers also drew four walks and struck out 10 times. Carpenter and Greene's two-run home runs both came with runners on base following walks.
"(Greene) had some hard luck in the Baltimore series," Hinch said. "You started to see him hit the ball pretty hard, over 100 mph quite a bit, and he got some to go out of the ballpark tonight."
The Tigers' other hits came from Javier Báez, who slapped a one-out double off the left-field wall in the fifth inning and a Dillon Dingler double in the ninth.
Ronel Blanco gave up three runs, struck out six and induced 19 swings and misses from the Tigers in five innings. The Astros used five relievers to close out the final four innings with two runs given up on Greene's home run.
Jared Ramsey covers sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Riley Greene homers twice, but Detroit Tigers fall to Astros, 8-5
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The Tigers led initially, but the Astros took the lead on a pair of two-run home runs off starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, and pushed the lead out to an insurmountable margin with four runs scored in the seventh inning following two throwing errors by Trey Sweeney.
"We didn't do a ton of things to create our own energy until maybe the end," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "We did hit the ball out of the ballpark. We did a few good things.
"But that was a key inning for them to be able to separate in the game."
The Tigers (18-11) dropped the series opener and the first game of the 10-game road trip.
The Tigers drew first blood thanks to Kerry Carpenter's sixth home run of the year. With one runner on and two outs in the third inning, Carpenter drove a high and away fastball over the high fence in left field for an early two-run lead.
Riley Greene followed suit an inning later, hitting a solo home run to the same spot in left-center field to make it 3-0 in the Tigers' favor.
The Astros took the lead by the sixth inning on home runs from Christian Walker and Jose Altuve. Walker cut the Tigers' lead to one run with a two-out home run in the fourth, and Altuve put Houston ahead with a home run that played into ending Flaherty's outing in the sixth.
Houston added four insurance runs in the seventh inning that started with Sweeney's errors. Sweeney misfired on a throw to first to lead off the inning, and then tossed a would-be double play into right field, putting two runners on. The Astros strung together four hits after the errors to push the lead to five runs.
"The first one was a little bit of a tough (one)," Hinch said. "He kind of got caught on his heels a little bit and just tried to launch it to first.
"The second one, he just threw it wide."
Greene hit a second home run, his sixth of the year, to left field with a two-out, two-run shot in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to three runs, but the offense could not score any runs in the ninth.
Flaherty taken deep twice
Flaherty threw three scoreless innings and seemed on his way to a fourth, but walked Isaac Paredes to keep the inning alive. The next at-bat, Christian Walker hit a two-run home run to cut the Tigers' lead to one run.
Jeremy Peña led off the sixth inning with a single, setting up another two-run home run in the next at-bat from Jose Altuve, who sent Flaherty's fastball to the train tracks above left field at Daikin Park.
The two home run swings marred what was a solid start from Flaherty. In five innings, he gave up six hits and two walks for four runs while striking out four. He struck out two with his fastball, one with his knuckle curveball and one with his slider.
"The pitch to Walker is one he probably wants to get back to and then, obviously, Altuve," Hinch said. "He got burned by some mistakes, but generally I thought he was in command of the game until a pitch or two got away."
Flaherty induced 10 swings and misses, including five with his knuckle curveball. He is now 1-3 with a 3.34 ERA after six starts.
Brenan Hanifee replaced him and got out of the sixth, but gave up four unearned runs in the seventh following Sweeney's errors.
Boom or bust night at the plate
The Tigers finished with five hits, three coming via Carpenter and Greene's home runs. The Tigers also drew four walks and struck out 10 times. Carpenter and Greene's two-run home runs both came with runners on base following walks.
"(Greene) had some hard luck in the Baltimore series," Hinch said. "You started to see him hit the ball pretty hard, over 100 mph quite a bit, and he got some to go out of the ballpark tonight."
The Tigers' other hits came from Javier Báez, who slapped a one-out double off the left-field wall in the fifth inning and a Dillon Dingler double in the ninth.
Ronel Blanco gave up three runs, struck out six and induced 19 swings and misses from the Tigers in five innings. The Astros used five relievers to close out the final four innings with two runs given up on Greene's home run.
Jared Ramsey covers sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Riley Greene homers twice, but Detroit Tigers fall to Astros, 8-5
Continue reading...
