Coming off a nice, mostly-comfortable victory to even up the three-game weekend series against the Astros in Detroit, the Tigers ran into a vintage performance from a familiar face, the bullpen laid an egg, and the Astros won the series with an easy 9-1 victory.
Jack Flaherty got the call for the Tigers, and coming into today he’s been on a roll. His previous two outings saw him strike out a combined 20 batters in 12⅔ innings, walking only two and giving up one home run. Flaherty has been a really nice pickup for the Tigers, with a WHIP just north of 1 and a ton of strikeouts. His ERA coming into today’s contest was 3.86, but since his FIP is 2.99, that means he’s been a little unlucky — and indeed, his BAbip-against this year has been .323, which means hitters against him have been lucky (league-average is consistently somewhere around .290).
Summitting the hill for the Astros today is someone who needs no introduction, but I’ll do it anyway: it was Old Friend™ Justin Verlander. He’s in his second go-round with the Astros, returning to them after half a season with the Mets that, while he personally did decently well, he’d probably rather forget. He came into today, his fifth start of the season, with an ERA of 4.43 but a FIP of 6.07, which means it’s been a struggle as his WHIP of 1.388 suggests. But, as we well know, ol’ JV always has a trick or two up his sleeve.
Verlander had his curveball working early today, getting perhaps a generous call or two, but definitely featuring the yellowhammer and working high in the zone. But, Flaherty was no slouch either, hitting mid-90s on his fastball early on — not as fast as in the Cardinals game, but it’s not hard to see why — and mixing in the knuckle-curve with aplomb. After a soft single in the top of the third with one out, the Tigers got the ol’ strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play, courtesy of Jake Rogers’ arm. And, hey, how about this nice play by Javier Báez?
By the end of the third inning Verlander really began to settle in, with his fastball creeping up from the low- to the mid-90s, as he set down the first nine batters in order. Colt Keith took him to the warning track in right-centre, right where the wall juts out, but other than that the Tigers’ offence couldn’t get much cookin’. (I know, you’ve heard that before.)
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Keith hit a chopper to shortstop and beat the (slightly wild) throw to first, which was Detroit’s first hit and baserunner of the game. But then Keith got thrown out trying to steal second, and that was the inning.
Kyle Tucker broke the scoreless tie with one on and one out in the sixth, golfing a high fly ball just over the fence in the right-field corner for a 2-0 Houston lead. It was Tucker’s 13th home run of the year, which leads the American League.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Carson Kelly and Riley Greene worked back-to-back walks, and Mark Canha was plunked on the elbow to load the bases for Matt Vierling, who lined out to left field on the first pitch to end the threat.
Flaherty got two outs in the top of the seventh, leaving a runner on first for Joey Wentz to face a lefty. Flaherty’s final line: 6⅔ innings, 0 BB, 7 K, which was very nice… but Wentz gave up a single to the first batter he faced, putting two runners on. Another pair of singles brought home another pair of runners, making it 4-0, a walk loaded the bases, and Wentz departed in favour of Alex Lange, who coaxed a flyout from Jeremy Peña to limit any further damage.
The Astros added onto their lead in the eighth with an assortment of walks, singles and doubles off Lange that I really don’t care to summarize, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to read about. Will Vest eventually came in and mercifully ended the inning with a pair of lineouts (one of which was a nice play by Andy Ibáñez at third), but all Vest did was close the barn door after all the horses had left.
Verlander’s day was done after seven, and he was Vintage JV: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 8 K. I know there have been reports of Verlander being open to returning to Detroit this season — essentially, it was him saying “never say never” — but if the Tigers aren’t in a pennant race, I can’t see him making the jump back.
Akil Baddoo, in his first at-bat back from Toledo, bashed a triple into the right-field corner to give the remaining fans a little late excitement. A balk brought Baddoo home, ending the shutout, and with two outs and a runner on first, Torkelson finally got off the schneid and had his first home run of the year. Yay!
Alas, the attempted nine-run comeback fell well short for the Detroiters, and that was the ballgame.
Numbers, Questions, Rants and Reminders
- Spencer Torkelson’s season so far, roughly split into thirds… games 1-12: .225 BA, .582 OPS, .275 BAbip, 9 K, 4 BB. Games 13-25: .220/.618/.290/13/6. Games 26-37: .227/.633/.333/14/3. So, bit of an uptick in OPS lately, but could it be due to luck (as evidenced by a higher BAbip)? Ugh. Spence, I love ya, baby, but… le sigh.
- Tarik Skubal is tied with Seth Lugo for the American League lead in wins, with 5. I know what you’re thinking… who the heck is Seth Lugo? Well, he was a middle-reliever and occasional starter with the Mets for seven seasons, had a decent year last year as a Padre in their starting rotation, and is now leading the AL in ERA and has a WHIP right around 1. Mind you, while his ERA is 1.74, his FIP is 3.78 and his BAbip-against is .235, so Lugo’s getting lucky-as-all-get-out these days.
- Tell you what Skubal isn’t tied for the lead for, it’s AL WHIP. His is a sparkling 0.857, and second place is Logan Gilbert of the Mariners with 0.942.
- Was Alex Bregman wearing… shorts? He had pink socks up just below his kneecaps, then you could see his kneecaps, and then the pants ended just above said kneecaps. I’m perplexed.
- So, Paul Skenes, huh? The red-hottest of red-hot prospects? Struck out everyone and their uncle in a brief minor-league stint? Comes up, throws four innings. Strikes out seven or so, sure, well done. But… four innings? Fergie Jenkins could’ve done that with two broken arms and a raging hangover. I’m decently new-school on a lot of things, but come on. We baby pitchers, they get hurt. We used to not baby ‘em, sure, some of ‘em got hurt. So, screw it, let ‘em go the distance — maybe they won’t be throwing triple-digit Bugs Bunny sliders, but at least they won’t break all the time like Blake Snell seems to, every year.
- I watched a Bill Burr standup special earlier today, so it’d help if you re-read the previous bullet-point in his voice. Thanks.
- Here’s to all the moms, grandmas, aunts, great-aunts, older sisters, and other strong female role models that you’ve had in your life. If they’re close-by, give ‘em a big hug. If they’re far away, give ‘em a call. If they aren’t around anymore, remember ‘em fondly. And if you are one… you rock!