Tigers 6, Astros 5: Comeback Spoiled By Walk Off Homer In Eleventh Inning

What Happened

The four game sweep is out of the question now, but the Astros put up a great effort in coming back from five runs down in the late innings again.  The last third of each game has been great for the team lately.  More on that in a bit.  Let me tell you how we got to that point.

Scott Feldman took the mound to start this series against former Cy Young winner David Price, and you could call that a bit of a mismatch on most days.  Including this one.  Feldman made it through the first three innings unscathed with the help of a couple of double plays.  With two outs in the fourth a walk followed by a home run from Nick Castellanos gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead.  They scored two more in the fifth inning on 3 hits and an error on SS Jonathan Villar, but got out of the inning when J.D. Martinez flew out into another double play.  Another run was tacked on in the sixth inning on a Rajai Davis double to make the score 5-0 going into the seventh inning.  With the way the Astros offense was going it looked to be an insurmountable lead.

While the Tigers were busy scoring runs and hitting the ball, the Astros were doing whatever the opposite of scoring runs and hitting the ball is.  Mostly striking out.  Price cruised through six innings only allowing one hit and one walk while whiffing 11 batters.  They finally started getting to Price in the seventh.  George Springer started the inning with a single, and Evan Gattis followed with his second triple of his career to score the first run.  After two outs, Villar singled home Gattis and Hank Conger singled home Villar to cut the Tigers lead to 5-3.  The following inning Springer drove in Luis Valbuena to make it a one-run game.  That set the stage for Preston Tucker, who with one out came up to pinch-hit for Villar against the closer Joakim Soria.  Tucker sent one out to left for his first professional homer to tie the game at 5-5.

But clawing back to tie was the best news of the game, as in the eleventh inning James McCann took an 0-2 pitch from Tony Sipp and deposited in the stands for a walk-off win.  The loss is a loss, but watching them not give up was great.  The team will try to even the series tomorrow evening at 6pm as Collin McHugh goes against Alfredo Simon.

Fun Facts

This is the first game the team has lost when scoring 4 or more runs.

Jake Buchanan pitched a great 8th inning after giving up a double and a wild pitch.  He kept the Tigers from scoring an insurance run by getting a groundout to SS, a great diving catch by Chris Carter on a pop up, and a strikeout of McCann.

Tweet of the Day

There can only be one...

Going #BOOM for first MLB home run to tie it up? Well played, @PrestonTucker20. http://t.co/ha8olcraJ7 #BamBam pic.twitter.com/lfdMce7DVx

— #VoteAstros (@astros) May 21, 2015