Astros' 3 homers enough to hold off Tigers
DETROIT -- Rare are the nights when a member of the Astros' starting rotation, which has been perhaps the best in baseball the entire season, has a wobbly performance. It was nothing that three homers and a lockdown job by baseball's best bullpen couldn't overcome.The streaking Astros used homers by
DETROIT -- Rare are the nights when a member of the Astros' starting rotation, which has been perhaps the best in baseball the entire season, has a wobbly performance. It was nothing that three homers and a lockdown job by baseball's best bullpen couldn't overcome.
The streaking Astros used homers by
"You've got to outscore the other team somehow," White said. "They put up a good inning [four runs in the fourth] in the middle of the game, but we held the lead and the bullpen did an unbelievable job."
• Gattis, White rock matching look in dugout
The Astros, winners of 16 of their last 20 games, maintained a three-game lead for first place in the American League West over the A's, who beat the Orioles, 3-2, on Tuesday for their fifth win in a row. There are 17 games remaining on the Astros' schedule.
Rookie lefty
"We have a lot of talented guys down there," Harris said. "Obviously, we've added a lot of talent with our September callups and the guys we traded for. We have a lot of very capable relievers, and it's nice to have that because we can give a guy a rest today. [Ryan] Pressly has been throwing a lot and has a lot of appearances, so it gives [manager] AJ [Hinch] the luxury of resting guys and not have to whip them too hard."
The Astros jumped out to a 5-0 lead on the strength of their three homers. Altuve hit
"Altuve was talking about swinging at the first pitch from last night when I texted the lineup to the guys," Hinch said. "It was an auto-swing from the very beginning. When it happens, everybody in the dugout knows it's coming. The home run just kicks a lot of energy into the dugout and puts [the opponent] on the defensive. I think Zimmermann danced around the strike zone a little bit because of the ambush that happened in the first inning."
The Tigers took advantage of a bad-hop, two-out RBI single off the bat of
"It happened fast, to go from a very comfortable outing where [Valdez] is initiating soft contact on the ground, getting a ton of ground balls, to an inning that got away from him that ends up [requiring 41] pitches to get out of there," Hinch said. "It's unfortunate for him because he had a comfortable lead and got into trouble and the one big swing got him."
Houston's bullpen took over, though, with Harris striking out three in the fifth, Rondon getting a big strikeout to end the seventh and strand a pair and Smith (sixth), McHugh (eighth) and Osuna (ninth) posting 1-2-3 innings.
"The way the game started, it didn't look like it was going to be a bullpen today, but they put some swings together and got a lucky bounce off the ground on the ground ball to Correa, and then you look up and it's a one-run game," Hinch said. "No margin for error for any of those guys who came in, and each guy did their part."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
In the fourth, Valdez gave up a one-out double to Niko Goodrum, who moved to third with two outs. After walking
"It was something that happens in the game," Valdez said. "It was something I couldn't control. I knew it was a bad bounce and all that, but I knew I had to refocus right after."
HE SAID IT
"He really knows what he's doing out there. He can pitch. He feeds off the hitters' aggressiveness in the ninth inning, which is always important for a closer. He can take miles per hour off the ball with the big changeup. His ball moves. He takes care of his arm very well to where he's very fresh on the days he pitches. He's a dominant closer for a reason." -- Hinch, on Osuna, who is 8-for-8 in save chances with the Astros and has 17 overall this year
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
An overturned call in the seventh inning took a run off the board for the Astros. With the bases loaded and two outs, White hit a hard grounder that bounced off third baseman
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Brian McTaggart has covered the Astros since 2004, and for MLB.com since 2009. Follow @brianmctaggart on Twitter and listen to his podcast.