Tigers Bullpen Once Again Fails as Detroit Falls to Houston

The feel good numbers in the month of June that come from the starting pitching, home runs, bullpen ERA seem empty as Detroit once again failed to hold the lead late for the second straight day and fall to Houston 7 to 5 in 10 innings. 

The feel-good numbers the Tigers have put together in June, from the starting pitching to the home runs to the overall run prevention, felt empty again Sunday afternoon. Detroit once again failed to hold a late lead, this time falling to Houston, 7-5, in 10 innings at Comerica Park.

For the second straight day, the Tigers had a winnable game against the Astros and watched it slip away late. That is the part that makes this one harder to separate from the bigger picture. Detroit has hit for power in June. The rotation has given them chances. The run differential has looked much better than the record. But when a team is trying to climb back into the division and wild card conversation, those numbers only carry so much weight if the bullpen cannot finish games.

Jack Flaherty gave Detroit what it needed in his return. He was not perfect, but he kept Houston off the board for five innings and worked through traffic with strikeouts. The Astros put runners on in the first, third and fourth innings, but Flaherty made pitches when he needed them. He struck out eight, including Jeremy Peña twice, Christian Walker, Yainer Diaz and Yordan Alvarez, and left with a 3-0 lead.

Detroit gave him that cushion in the second inning. Kerry Carpenter opened the frame with a single, and Zach McKinstry followed by driving a two-run homer to right-center field. The Tigers added another run in the fifth when Kevin McGonigle walked, advanced on a Colt Keith groundout and scored when Raynel Delgado made a fielding error on a Riley Greene ball.

At that point, the game was set up the way Detroit would want it. Flaherty had done his job. The Tigers had scratched out a lead against Hunter Brown. The bullpen had four innings to protect a three-run advantage. 

Tyler Holton worked a clean sixth, but the seventh changed after a defensive mistake. Jake Meyers reached on a missed catch error by Keith, and Delgado followed with his first career home run to cut Detroit’s lead to 3-2. Kyle Finnegan replaced Holton and got out of the inning, but the lead did not last much longer.

Paredes opened the eighth by homering to left field, tying the game at 3. Finnegan settled down enough to strike out Cam Smith, Yainer Diaz and Brice Matthews after a Christian Walker walk, but the damage had already been done. A three-run lead had become a tie game.

Detroit had a major chance to win it in the ninth against Josh Hader. Ben Malgeri walked. McGonigle walked. Jahmai Jones walked. The Tigers had the bases loaded with two outs and Riley Greene at the plate, but Greene struck out swinging to end the inning. Detroit finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position today. 

Kenley Jansen entered to start the 10th but the results were the same.  Yordan Alvarez walked, and Paredes singled to right to score Peña and give Houston its first lead of the day. Walker then delivered the swing that decided the game, a three-run homer to left that pushed the Astros ahead 7-3.

Detroit did answer in the bottom half. Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run homer to right-center, his 13th of the season, and McKinstry later singled to bring the tying run to the plate. Malgeri walked again, giving Matt Vierling a chance to extend the game, but Vierling lined out sharply to right field to end it.

The loudest stat, and quite frankly the most important one, is this: 15 losses after the seventh inning. The Tigers added two more this weekend, and that is not clean baseball. It is one thing to have better numbers in June, but it is another to keep giving away games late.

Follow me on "X" @rogcastbaseball