Detroit Tigers snap 22-inning scoreless streak but lose again, 6-3, to Houston Astros
After 22⅓ innings, the Detroit Tigers snapped their scoreless streak with one out in the second inning of Tuesday's game. Spencer Torkelson drew a six-pitch walk and scored when Eric Haase's doubled down the left-field line.
A feel-good moment for a miserable offense avoided another shutout but wasn't enough to spark a victory against the Houston Astros. The Tigers lost, 6-3, in the second of three games at Comerica Park.
The Tigers (54-88) have an 18-41 record since July 9.
Astros right-hander Hunter Brown, who attended Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores and Wayne State University in Detroit, battled command issues early but continued to get better as he worked deeper into the second start of his MLB career.
The 24-year-old, a fifth-round pick in 2019, threw a game-high 98.9 mph fastball in the fifth inning, which included two of his six strikeouts. Brown allowed two runs on five hits and two walks over six innings. He tossed 57 of 82 pitches for strikes, generated six swings and misses and tallied 22 called strikes.
Brown retired the final seven batters he faced.
The Astros crushed three home runs and scored all six runs with two outs, capped by a two-run home run from Yuli Gurriel off left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin for a 6-2 lead with two outs in the seventh inning.
Chafin walked Yordan Alvarez, who finished 2-for-3 with a walk, to begin his relief appearance.
After Brown's exit, right-handed reliever Hector Neris took over for the seventh inning. Kody Clemens hit an opposite-field home run, his fourth of the season and first since July 6, for the Tigers' third and final run.
Astros closer Ryan Pressly struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth.
Shooting stars out of Houston
As Brown worked through six innings, the Astros' offense provided run support in a matchup with 32-year-old veteran right-hander Drew Hutchison.
Alvarez cranked a changeup at the bottom of the strike zone for a solo home run in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. He collected his 33rd home run of the season with two strikes and two outs. Two-strike hits haunted Hutchison.
He's heating up. pic.twitter.com/vorjHVxTXb
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 13, 2022
The Astros scored three more runs in the third inning, once again with two outs. Alvarez, the No. 3 hitter, ignited the offensive surge with a double — his 21st of the year — on a two-strike slider below the strike zone.
Alex Bregman drove in Alvarez for a 2-1 lead with a one-strike single, and Kyle Tucker crushed a two-strike slider at the bottom of the zone for a two-run home run. Tucker's 26th homer increased Houston's margin to 4-1.
A scoreless fourth and speedy fifth allowed Hutchison to return for the sixth inning. He retired the first batter before Aledmys Diaz reached safely on a fielding error by shortstop Javier Báez, who leads MLB with 24 errors. The ball — hit directly at Báez — snuck into the outfield. An ensuing double from Mauricio Dubon chased Hutchison from his outing.
Right-handed reliever Alex Lange struck out Martin Maldonado, then hit Jose Altuve with a curveball to load the bases. He fell behind 0-2 in the count against Jeremy Pena but responded with three consecutive strikes — sinker (called strike), sinker (swinging strike) and curveball (swinging strike) — to escape the sixth without damage.
Hutchison allowed four runs on nine hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out two, throwing 63 of 89 pitches for strikes. He used 34 sliders (38%), 30 four-seam fastballs (34%), 21 sinkers (24%) and four changeups (4%).
Baddoo finally does it
The improbable happened in the third inning, as Akil Baddoo produced his best swing of the season on Brown's two-strike curveball and ripped a triple to straightaway center field. He scored the Tigers' second run on Riley Greene's RBI single.
It marked Baddoo's third extra-base hit of the season and his first extra-base hit since an April 13 home run, despite playing in 49 MLB games since then. He went 1-for-3 with one strikeout and is batting .184 in 54 games in 2022.
From that point forward, Brown dominated the Tigers by working ahead in counts and flexing his high-velocity fastball. He threw fastballs for 54 of his 82 pitches, a 66% clip. He also tossed in 17 curveballs, 10 sliders and one splitter.
Brown owns a 1.50 ERA after two MLB starts.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers snap long scoreless inning streak, but lose, 6-3
