The Houston Astros fell 1-0 to the Detroit Tigers in 10 innings on Tuesday night inside Comerica Park in Detroit. The shutout marks the fourth time in the last five games that the Astros have been shut out.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Leading American League Cy Young candidate Tarik Skubal got the ball for the Tigers (75-53) in this one. He worked around a baserunner and induced a double-play ball to work a clean first.
The Astros (69-57) started with ace right-hander Hunter Brown. Brown also navigated a clean first, setting up the pitcher’s duel that was expected entering this game.
Each pitcher matched the other zero for zero throughout the early stages of the game. When Brown faced a couple of scoring opportunities, he used the double-play ball to get out of trouble. Each ace had put up six zeroes through the first two-thirds of this game.
Skubal would go seven shutout, with Brown going six. The game got handed over to the bullpen still 0-0. Both sets of relief pitchers were up to the task, keeping the game scoreless into extra innings.
After a scoreless top of the tenth, the Tigers started with a runner on second in the bottom half. Kaleb Ort got the first two outs, but with the bases eventually loaded he walked Gleyber Torres to force the only and winning run in.
BIG NUMBER: 13
The two Cy Young candidates put up a combined 13 scoreless frames in this game, putting runs at a premium. The bullpens took over in a scoreless contest, as this pitcher’s duel lived up to its hype.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Tarik Skubal
Though both pitchers were excellent, Detroit got an extra inning out of Skubal. That may have been the difference, as it forced the Astros’ thin bullpen to have to try to do more work.
UP NEXT: The Astros and Tigers will wrap up this three-game set tomorrow afternoon at 12:10 PM. The game can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.