*Photo from the Toledo Blade*
Yes, the Astros are still a good team. Kyle Tucker homered, Jake Meyers drove in 3 runs, and the Houston Astros defeated the Detroit Tigers with a 9-3 victory Sunday afternoon in Detroit.
The Astros secured a series win by taking the finale, having split the first two games with the Tigers. Meyers and Tucker led the way for the Astros at the plate while Justin Verlander shined on the mound, moving two strikeouts shy of 11th place on the all time strikeout list.
After a scoreless first 5 innings, Tucker got the Astros on the board in the 6th inning, hitting a two run home run. Meyers made it 3-0 Astros with an RBI single in the 7th before an RBI single from Mauricio Dubon made it a 4-0 game with an RBI single. In the 8th, Yainer Diaz hit an RBI single and Joey Loperfido hit an RBI double to make it 6-0.
Later in the 8th, Meyers drove in a pair of runs with a single to left field to pad the Astros lead to 8-0. In the 9th, Meyers hit an infield single that scored Jon Singleton to make it a 9-0 game. In the 9th, Akil Baddoo scored to get the Tigers on the board and make it 9-1. Spencer Torkelson hit a two run shot as well to make it a 9-3 game.
Verlander started against his old team and delivered 7 shutout innings for the Astros, striking out 8 hitters while allowing two hits and two walks. Seth Martinez was the only reliever used by the Astros, allowing two runs in two innings.
Torkelson said of Verlander that "He's on his way to Cooperstown for a reason. I thought we had a good plan heading into it, capitalize on mistakes, then realized early on there wasn't going to be very many mistakes to capitalize on."
Jack Flaherty started for the Tigers, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits while striking out 7 hitters in 6 2/3 innings. Joey Wentz gave up one run and Alex Lange gave up 4 before Will Vest allowed one run in 1 2/3 innings.
Detroit manager AJ Hinch said of Flaherty's start that "Jack did a good job of holding them down. They put a lot of pressure on him with baserunners and he kept making pitches. He was just unfortunate the offense ran into Verlander and couldn't help him."
Both teams start their next series Monday night. Spencer Arrighetti gets the start for the Astros as they host the Oakland Athletics, while Matt Manning goes for the Tigers as the Miami Marlins come to Detroit.
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