news

Astros can’t understand Tigers pitching chaos

Vaseline October 2, 2024

The Houston Astros knew it was coming. They just didn’t know WHO came.

The Tigers played the game they have played so well since mid-August, the matchup, with their pitchers sweeping the Astros from the wild-card series, culminating in Wednesday’s 5-2 win at Minute Maid Park.

The Tigers used seven pitchers in the Game 2 win, and none of them faced the same Astros hitter twice.

It was like so many Tigers games since they became popular in mid-August, when manager AJ Hinch and his staff turned traditional baseball on its head. It creates problems for opposing managers, who must decide whether to set the starting lineup for the opener who might only throw one inning, or who they think will be the first man out of the bullpen. Hinch called his pitching plans “chaos,” and the Astros couldn’t handle it.

“Yeah, it’s tough,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “We talked about it before the game started. So it creates challenges as a team because you get to see different arms, different angles, different things and different situations of the game. You could think of guys in scoring position, with the bases empty. You have to adapt. We were just one goal away from winning the series in the last two games.

“But baseball, you tip your hat to them and you move on.”

The Tigers have only one traditional starter these days, Cy Young lock Tarik Skubal, who was dominant in the Game 1 victory. The Tigers did not announce their Game 2 starter before Game 1, as is customary, because Major League Baseball named the starter would like to present it to the media the next day. Instead, the Tigers brought in Reese Olson as a pseudo, with their reputation for a pitching staff that may be short on big names but is big on big things.

Olson didn’t even pitch in the two-game series. But everyone did, except Casey Mize.

Tyler Holton was Wednesday’s opener, announced after Tuesday’s game concluded, followed by Brenan Hanifee, Brent Hurter, Beau Brieske, Jackson Jobe (with just two games and four innings on his Major League resume), Sean Guenther and Will Vest .

Holton, Brieske and Guenther did not allow a hit. The Astros had just 12 hits in the series, one for extra bases. Tigers pitchers struck out 15 in the 18 innings, while Vest struck out five in 2.2 innings over the two games.

The Astros made the American League Championship Series seven years in a row, but not this year, thanks to a Tigers team that not only confounded a fan base that saw them rise from eight games under .500 and ten games back in the wildcard. race in early August to the most improbable run the sport has seen in recent memory.

The Astros led the series for about five minutes after scoring a pair of runs off Jobe in the seventh inning. Even in that inning, no one hit the ball hard, and the Astros grounded into an inning-ending double play.

“You have to give those games credit,” Espada said of a Tigers team that also plays its matchup game offensively, and it came in a big way on Wednesday, when reserve Andy Ibañez kicked things off, a three-run double at $19 million. -one-year reliever Josh Hader. “They’ve been playing pretty good baseball since mid-August. Credit to them. They played well and performed well.”

The Tigers will play the Guardians in the American League Division Series in Cleveland starting Saturday.

[email protected]

@tonypaul1984