DETROIT -- The Astros certainly had opportunities on Friday night. Tigers starter Casey Mize was on the ropes in the first inning. Framber Valdez was in control. Hits were sprinkled throughout the lineup, the defense was sharp enough, and Houston was fresh off a power-packed win in the Bronx.

What the Astros needed in the series opener at Comerica Park was what they’ve needed more often than not this season: just a little bit more. One timely hit. One different pitch.

This time, the story played out a little differently than it has too often this season. Yordan Alvarez began the rally in the eighth inning. Jeremy Peña kept it going. Alex Bregman gave Houston some breathing room, and Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader made sure momentum stayed where it belonged.

String it all together, and the Astros emerged on the sunny side of a 5-2 win, leaving one to wonder: Have they really been missing just a little bit all along?

“This is a really good team. We are a really good team, and it's just a matter of us turning the corner and starting to do the small things well,” manager Joe Espada said. “The eighth inning offensively shows what this team can do. Bryan Abreu coming in and shutting the door, that was remarkable. Hader coming in tonight and closing the door, that's the team. That's the Houston Astros right there.”

Houston has played 11 one-run games this season and won just two of those, and for much of Friday’s game, it looked like that’s how things would continue. Valdez was sharp throughout his seven-inning effort, drawing 10 swings and misses and hitting the 100-pitch mark for the first time this season.

His velocity wasn’t jaw-dropping, but Valdez didn’t have to light up the radar to show fans he’s the same pitcher he was before the recent bout of left elbow inflammation. Valdez, one of the game’s premier ground-ball specialists, induced 14 groundouts and one flyout against Detroit, and struck out four -- including three Tigers swinging in the fifth inning.

“I'm not really worried about [the injury anymore], but also I'm not trying to throw as hard as I can or try to throw too hard. It might cause other problems and other issues,” said Valdez, who maxed out on a 95.8 mph sinker in the third inning that ended in a Spencer Torkelson groundout to end the frame.

“So I just try to throw how my body feels, whether it's 95 or 96; 92 or 93. I just try to throw how my body's feeling that day.”

Valdez got into trouble just once, allowing a pair of singles to open the third. Matt Vierling’s subsequent double went into the left-field corner and put Detroit ahead, 2-0.

Houston, meanwhile, did what it could to back him, putting the leadoff runner on base in six of the first eight innings. Tucker led off the sixth with his American League-leading 12th home run, and it was an impressive one, leaving his bat at 106 mph and coming to rest a Statcast-projected 409 feet away to bring the Astros to within 2-1.

While Mize seemed destined for an early shower -- he needed 26 pitches to get through the first -- he recovered quickly, allowing just the Tucker homer in his six frames. Houston was 0-for-6 in scoring position heading into the eighth, and was looking more and more like the club was destined for another frustrating one-run defeat.

When Alvarez drove home the tying run with an eighth-inning single that shot up the first-base line, the dugout roared. Peña’s drive up the middle put Houston ahead, 3-2, to stay. Bregman delivered an RBI fielder’s choice and Yainer Diaz added a sac fly for insurance, and all of a sudden, it was just like the good old days.

Abreu and Hader -- who’ve also battled lately -- delivered a scoreless eighth and ninth inning, respectively, and though Abreu made it interesting by allowing a one-out double to Riley Greene, he also bounced back to sit down the next two Tigers looking.

“Even before New York, I feel like we started to play better baseball,” Peña said. “We're starting to do little things better. We're starting to lean on each other, pass the baton and put together better at-bats. Our pitchers have been coming through.

“It’s just a matter of keeping it going. We're going to keep competing, and we're going to keep showing up.”