Astros 11, Tigers 4: Houston batters Ryan Carpenter, Tigers bullpen in another blowout

The Tigers were in for a rough one early Tuesday evening, and dropped a second straight contest against the Houston Astros, this one by an 11-4 score.

Starter Ryan Carpenter immediately got into trouble, surrendering a walk and a single before Carlos Correa parked a 437-foot bomb into dead center field to put the Astros up 3-0 early. The second inning was much of the same, as Carpenter surrounded back to back singles to Josh Reddick and George Springer before walking Alex Bregman and allowing a a single to Michael Brantley that was deep enough into right to score two, stretching the Astros’ lead to 5-0. Third baseman Gordon Beckham then made an errant throw, which allowed Bregman to score. The third inning saw Aledmys Diaz hit a home run to lead off the inning pushing the lead to seven.

The Tigers’ offense finally showed signs of life when Beckham hit a ball deep to right-center field. Astros right fielder Josh Reddick misplayed the ball, allowing Beckham to reach third base. JaCoby Jones then flew out to center, but it was more than deep enough to score Beckham, giving the Tigers their first run of the game.

The fourth inning saw the Astros lineup keep on pushing forward, with a two-out triple by Correa. Yuli Gurriel was able to find a hole between Beckham at third and Ronny Rodriguez at short to land a single and score Correa, putting the score at 8-1. The Tigers offense was able to squeak out another run after a Castellanos single and Miguel Cabrera groundout moved Castellanos to second. Ronny Rodriguez blasted an absolute missile off of the left field wall, just short of a home run, but it scored Castellanos.

Buck Farmer replace Carpenter in the fifth inning and he started off well, striking out his first batter before getting Reddick to ground out. However, Springer smashed a ball to the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field. It bounced awkwardly off the base of the wall away from Jones, which allow Correa to score on an inside-the-park home run, the Astros’ ninth run of the game.

Daniel Stumpf replaced Farmer in the sixth. Michael Brantley hit a double off of the left field wall just a few feet away from Niko Goodrum’s reach. Correa hit one to deep to center, but Jones made a great running catch; Brantley was able to take third after tagging up. Then Diaz hit a liner to center field to score Brantley, pushing the lead to 10-2. In the bottom half, Cabrera walked, and then Rodriguez blasted his sixth home run of the season to left-center.

In the seventh, the Astros received a leadoff double from Reddick followed by a walk from Springer, but Goodrum made a sliding catch in foul territory to help with escaping the jam unscathed.

Blaine Hardy replaced Stumpf in the eighth and promptly gave up a triple to pinch hitter Tony Kemp. Diaz nearly missed a home run that was caught by Castellanos against the wall, but allowed Kemp to score on the sacrifice to put the tally at 11-4. Victor Alcantara mercifully pitched a clean 1-2-3 ninth inning. After back-to-back walks with one out in the bottom half, Jones lined into a double play to end the game.

The Good:

Ronny Rodriguez continues swinging a hot bat with a double and a home run, his sixth of the season. He was the only Tiger to record multiple hits this game.

The Bad:

Ryan Carpenter just couldn’t settle in, as he was battered from the start of the game. He finished with seven runs allowed on nine hits in four innings, with five strikeouts and three walks. He allowed a run in every single one of his four innings.