Houston Astros<\/a> staged another comeback Sunday against a bullpen susceptible to them, sustaining a series winning streak as a result.<\/p>\nTrailing the Tigers by three runs entering the seventh inning, the Astros pulled even on two home-run swings, then rode a four-run 10th to a 7-5 victory at Comerica Park. Houston took three of four games from Detroit for its fifth consecutive series win. Its record is 42-44.<\/p>\n
After a seven-pitch ninth inning, veteran Kenley Jansen returned to the mound for the Tigers in the 10th. A walk to Yordan Alvarez brought up Isaac Paredes, who had tied the game with a home run two innings earlier. Paredes lined a two-strike cutter to right field for a single, driving in extra-innings runner Jeremy Pe\u00f1a from second base.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Jansen built a 1-2 count on Christian Walker but could not put him away. Walker crushed the sixth pitch of the at-bat over the left-field fence, creating separation that proved critical.<\/p>\n
Having spent most of their leverage relievers to force extras, the Astros deployed Enyel De Los Santos for the 10th. He allowed a two-run home run to Spencer Torkelson and the Tigers put the potential tying run on base before Matt Vierling flied out to the warning track in right field to end an eventful affair.<\/p>\n
In their three wins in the series, the Astros scored 12 runs against Detroit\u2019s bullpen. The Tigers entered the finale 27-12 this season when leading after six innings, with their 17 blown saves third-most in the majors. Houston erased a late two-run deficit in its win Saturday. The Astros began this series 2-38 this season when trailing after six innings. Their last two wins both came in that fashion.<\/p>\n
A two-run home run by Raynel Delgado, the first in the majors for the rookie infielder, broke up a Detroit shutout bid in the seventh. Delgado drove a sweeper from left-hander Tyler Holton into the right-field seats with two outs, after an error on Vierling, the Tigers first baseman, had prolonged the inning.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Two innings earlier, Delgado had also committed a costly error. Mishandling a two-out chopper by Riley Greene with a runner on second base allowed Detroit to push across a third run against Hunter Brown, who had settled in after Zach McKinstry\u2019s two-run homer in the second inning.<\/p>\n
Brown worked six innings. His counterpart Jack Flaherty blanked the Astros for five. They managed only two hits before the seventh. Paredes began the eighth with a home run against Kyle Finnegan to forge a 3-3 tie. A day earlier, Paredes had delivered a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n
Houston rolled out its top leverage relievers to force extras. Steven Okert stranded two runners inherited from Bryan Abreu in the seventh. Bryan King worked the eighth. Josh Hader, who had retired 33 of his 37 batters faced entering Sunday, walked the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth.<\/p>\n
Hader, pitching back-to-back days for the second time since returning from the IL, fired a 97 mph sinker past Greene to force extras. The Tigers went hitless in seven at-bats with a runner in scoring position in the first nine innings, leaving nine men on base.<\/p>\n
Quality start for Brown<\/p>\n
After completing just three innings in his last start in Toronto, Brown closer resembled his typical form, though the Tigers made him work. Brown threw 103 pitches in six innings in his third start back from a shoulder strain while authoring a quality start.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Brown navigated baserunners in all but one inning. The Tigers were hitless in four at-bats with men in scoring position against him yet scratched out three runs, one unearned.<\/p>\n
Kerry Carpenter opened the second inning with a bloop single. McKinstry then turned on a 95.8 mph four-seamer, sending it 386 feet into the seats in right-center. Brown allowed just one hit over his last four innings. A miscue behind him in the fifth helped Detroit pad its lead.<\/p>\n
With two outs and Kevin McGonigle on second, Greene pulled a chopper. Delgado, drawing a start at second base with Jose Altuve resting, couldn\u2019t corral moving to his left.\u00a0McGonigle scored from second, the error putting the Tigers up 3-0 and prolonging the inning for Brown.<\/p>\n
Brown allowed no further damage. He finished with four strikeouts, inducing 10 whiffs on 44 swings. Tigers hitters put nine balls in play against him with an exit velocity above 95 mph, Statcast\u2019s hard-hit threshold, but just five for hits. Brown has a 1.78 ERA through 25 1\/3 innings this season.<\/p>\n
Five scoreless for Flaherty<\/p>\n
Flaherty posted a 5.35 ERA in his first 15 starts this season before an injured list stint for a tendon strain in his lower left leg. He subdued the Astros in his return.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Flaherty needed 94 pitches to finish five innings but he missed barrels and got Houston hitters to leave the strike zone. The Astros chased at a 37% clip against Flaherty and whiffed on 16 of 48 swings against him. Eight balls they put into play averaged just an 81.5 mph exit velocity.<\/p>\n
Houston had chances. Jake Meyers doubled to open the third inning. A wild pitch sent him to third with no outs. Three hitters could not drive him in. Flaherty struck out Delgado and Jeremy Pe\u00f1a and induced a flyout from Yordan Alvarez, back in the lineup after a rest day.<\/p>\n
A single and two walks loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth. Flaherty struck out Meyers fishing for a slider away. He recorded nine of 15 outs via strikeout. All but one ended on whiffs. Pe\u00f1a struck out three times on sliders. Flaherty froze Alvarez with a third-strike fastball to punctuate his outing.<\/p>\n
Altuve sits, Smith OK<\/p>\n
Jose Altuve and Cam Smith were both absent from the Astros\u2019 lineup for Sunday\u2019s finale. Altuve received a planned off day, manager Joe\u00a0Espada said. He had played in the first nine games of Houston\u2019s stretch of 13 without an off day that ends Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Smith was removed Saturday in the seventh inning for a pinch-hitter after fouling a ball off of his left foot earlier in the game. Smith\u2019s foot was \u201cpretty sore\u201d Sunday, Espada said pregame, but he was available off the bench.<\/p>\n
Smith entered in the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter for Joey Loperfido after the Tigers called in left-hander\u00a0Holton and played the rest of the game in right field.<\/p>\n
Javier update<\/p>\n
Cristian Javier made his fifth rehab start in his return from a shoulder strain Saturday with Triple-A Sugar Land, throwing six scoreless innings. Javier threw 85 pitches in the outing, allowed three hits, issued two walks and struck out four.<\/p>\n
Javier made his first rehab start June 3. Minor-league rehab assignments for pitchers carry a 30-day limit. Espada did not say Sunday whether Javier\u2019s next start will be with Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threw the ball really well\u201d on Saturday, Espada said. \u201cHis 30 days are coming up here pretty soon so we\u2019re going to sit down and talk to him about what\u2019s next for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
The Astros will conclude their stretch of 13 games in 13 days with a three-game series against the Twins starting Monday at Daikin Park. Peter Lambert, Mike Burrows and Tatsuya Imai are scheduled to start in that order for Houston.<\/p>\n
Zebby Matthews, Joe Ryan and Taj Bradley are listed as the Twins\u2019 projected starters. The Astros faced Matthews and Ryan in their series in Minnesota in mid-May. Matthews allowed two runs in six innings. Ryan allowed one run in six innings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Isaac Paredes drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning Sunday in Detroit before Christian\u00a0Walker crushed a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-353828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}