Astros 3, Tigers 0: Offense fails to launch

It wasn’t Mike Fiers’ best outing, but against one of the better offenses in the game, the former Astro was solid. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t get off the launchpad, dropping their fifth straight game by a 0-3 score in Houston.

Fiers allowed a two-run shot to Alex Bregman in the first inning, but settled in from there. He only struck out two and fought through quite a bit of traffic, but three runs allowed in six innings was plenty good enough had the Tigers’ offense been able to break through.

The Tigers got singles from Ronny Rodriguez and Jeimer Candelario to start the third inning. Unfortunately JaCoby Jones flew out to center field, and Niko Goodrum and John Hicks both struck out to spoil the threat.

In the sixth, the Tigers actually loaded the bases with one out, but the frustration continued. Dallas Keuchel got Mikie Mahtook to pop one up for the second out of the inning. Victor Martinez followed with a Victor Martinez special — a weak grounder to Astros second baseman Jose Altuve to squander another scoring chance.

Drew VerHagen pitched a clean seventh in relief, while ol’ rubber arm, Shane Greene, hurried back from the disabled list to throw a scoreless eighth.