Detroit Tigers beat the odds against Verlander and the Astros

The Detroit Tigers made history tonight by beating the Astros with -550 odds of losing, which was the largest upset in approximately 15 years in the MLB.

The Detroit Tigers played the third game of a four-game set against the Astros tonight, and it turned into a historic affair. Westgate LV had the Astros as a -550 favorite to win the game, which was the biggest odds of winning in 15 years in the MLB. Detroit ended up winning the game 2-1, marking this as a historic upset.

A big part of the reason the Tigers were so heavily predicted to lose was their former pitcher, Justin Verlander. Verlander has seemingly defied aging and continues to be one of the most dominant pitchers in the MLB at age 36. He pitched a near-perfect game tonight too, except for the two hits he gave up which were both home runs. Those two runs were enough for Detroit tonight behind some dominating pitching of their own.

Daniel Norris had a solid start to the game, despite being pulled after 3.0 innings. He gave up two hits but didn’t allow any runs or walks. Tyler Alexander came in to relieve him and pitched for 4.0 innings and gave up the lone Astros run off of a solo homer. Buck Farmer and Joe Jimenez each pitched one inning and didn’t give up any runs.

The offense was completely dead tonight, but the two home runs they hit were enough to get them the win. The much-awaited matchup between Verlander and Cabrera resulted in Cabrera going 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Ronny Rodriguez and John Hicks were the offensive heroes of the game responsible for the only runs.

The Tigers will have a chance to split the series tomorrow night at 8:10 p.m. EST against Gerrit Cole. Cole, like Verlander, has been outstanding this season, with a 14-5 record and a 2.87 ERA. The odds will be stacked against Detroit again tomorrow with the 1-6 Jordan Zimmermann on the bump. The Tigers will look to get another upset.