Detroit Tigers Rally To Take Second Straight From Houston Astros

Coming into Friday night, the Houston Astros were 18-2 in games where they scored first. Following a dominant performance from Alfredo Simon, and some timely hitting, they were 18-3, after a loss at the hands of the Detroit Tigers.

Houston jumped out early on Detroit, when a costly two-out error by Ian Kinsler opened the door for two runs to score. Those two runs, however, would be the only scored by the Astros all night, and would not hold up long.

In the very next frame, former Astro J.D. Martinez drove a three run shot into the right-field stands, and put the Tigers up for good.

But the night belonged to Simon. After being much-maligned in the offseason, Simon has arguably been Detroit’s best pitcher in 2015. “Big Pasta” pitched seven innings, without allowing an earned run, and struck out five. On the year, the large right-hander is 5-2 with a 2.67 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, and 38 strikeouts.

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After Simon departed, the much improved Tigers bullpen took over, and turned in a flawless effort just one night after one of their worst showings. Joba Chamberlain, who now has an ERA of 1.38, pitched a scoreless eighth, and was then matched by Tom Gorzelanny in the ninth.

The pressure on the bullpen to succeed was alleviated when after a Rajai Davis infield single gave the Tigers a much needed insurance run, McCann stretched the gap even further with a huge two-out, two run single.

The young catcher has continued to be impressive in the absence of Tigers’ starter, Alex Avila. Not only has McCann handled the pitching staff well, but he is now hitting .299 with 2 home-runs, and 10 RBI.

McCann and the rest of the Tigers will once again face Houston tomorrow, at 4:08 PM. On the mound for Houston will be Lance McCullers, who is making his second career start. In his first outing, the young McCullers allowed just one run, but only lasted 4 2/3 innings. Meanwhile, on the mound for Detroit will be Kyle Lobstein, who took a loss, but only allowed three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings during his last start. The third game of this four game series will be broadcast on Fox Sports Detroit, and 97.1 The Ticket.

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