Detroit Tigers at Houston Astros: Game 77 Preview, TV/Radio Coverage, Lineup

Jun 27, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros catcher

(15) celebrates his game winning home run during the eleventh inning to defeat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Detroit Tigers(43-33) at Houston Astros (35-46) – 4:10 p.m. EDT

Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX

TV: Fox Sports Detroit

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket (click for affiliates)

Weather: 83 degrees, 40 percent chance of storms (stadium has retractable roof)

Game Notes

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The Detroit Tigers will look to start a new winning streak after losing in extra innings on Friday night when Jason Castro sent a Blaine Hardy 11th inning pitch into the seats for a walk-off victory for the last-place Houston Astros. The scenario was eerily similar to what happened about six weeks ago when the Tigers started their last three-city road trip at 6-0 and went into the home of a last place team and lost via an extra innings walk-off homer.

Let’s hope history is not repeating itself.

When We Last Met

Friday night’s game was not a work of art–to say the least. The teams combined for four errors. Most of the errors resulted in a run. The last one was earned, however, and gave Houston the 4-3 win. 

Pitching Matchup 

Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Max Scherzer (9-3, 3.71) looks to join Rick Porcello in the 10-win club when he heads to the mound on Saturday afternoon. Max bounced back nicely in his last start, which followed the worst start of his career when he allowed 10 earned runs in an 11-4 pasting by Kansas City on June 17. In his last outing, he limited the Cleveland Indians to one run on six hits and fanned eight batters in the 10-4 Detroit win. Scherzer was masterful in his start against the Astros in Detroit last month, going eight shutout innings, allowing just three hits with nine strikeouts in the 2-0 Tigers’ win.

Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Dallas Keuchel was the scheduled starter for the Astros. Keuchel was solid in picking up Houston’s only win in Detroit last month, so perhaps the Tigers caught a break and will face Brett Oberholtzer (2-6, 4.76). Before toiling in AAA for about a month, Oberholtzer was shelled in Houston’s 11-4 loss to the Tigers on May 6, allowing four runs on nine hits in six innings. He has started just two games in the bigs since then, and not since May 30 when he allowed an earned run in seven innings against Baltimore.

REVISED Detroit Tigers Lineup (Jackson out, Davis in)

1. Rajai Davis-CF
2. Ian Kinsler-2B
3. Miguel Cabrera-DH
4. Victor Martinez-1B
5. J.D. Martinez-LF
6. Torii Hunter-RF
7. Nick Castellanos-3B
8. Bryan Holaday-C
9. Eugenio Suarez-SS

Injuries

Detroit Tigers

• Ian Krol – 15-Day DL
• Luke Putkonen – Out indefinitely
• Joel Hanrahan – Out indefinitely
• Andy Dirks – 60-day DL
• Jose Iglesias – Out for season
• Bruce Rondon – Out for season

Houston Astros

• Dallas Keuchel – Day-t0-Day
• Dexter Fowler – Questionable
• Chris Carter – Questionable
• Josh Fields – 15-day DL
• Matt Albers – 15-day DL
• Jesse Crain — Out indefinitely
• Anthony Bass – Out indefinitely
• Jose Cisnero – Out for season