It was another long day for the Tigers.
A day after a much-welcomed early offensive explosion against the Astros, it was the Tigers’ turn to take it on the chin in Sunday’s rubber match.
Houston beat Detroit 9-3 to hand the Tigers their third straight series loss. To add salt to the wound, it was former Tigers ace Justin Verlander who stole the show Sunday.
Verlander threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and two walks. He retired the first 14 batters he faced.
Verlander is now 4-3 with a 2.34 ERA in seven starts against the team he began his career with.
Scoreless through five, Jack Flaherty had quite the outing going himself until he gave up a two-run homer to Kyle Tucker in the 6th. He was on the hook for one more earned run the following inning.
The Astros would tack on four more runs against Alex Lange in the 8th as they batted around.
The lone bright spot for the Tigers came in the form of Spencer Torkelson’s first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the 9th. A year after going for 31 homers, he’s officially on the board.
Kenta Maeda takes the mound Monday night as the Tigers open a three-game set with the Marlins.