Astros face elimination after dropping Game 1 by 'inches'

HOUSTON — The ball bounced off Jason Heyward's bat, and for a split-second Tuesday afternoon, it looked as if the Astros had pulled off a stunning victory. When Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson pinched his glove for the final out of the ninth inning, excitement quickly turned to frustration.

And now the Astros face disappointment.

Hayward lined out with two outs and the bases loaded for Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series at Minute Maid Park, where the Tigers continued their improbable run over the Astros with a 3-1 win — Detroit's first season win since 2013.

“Game of inches, right?” Astros manager Joe Espada. “He hits the ball a few inches, a few feet above his head, that ball hits the corner and [Chas] McCormick scored from first [and we win]. … Those guys never give up, so I'm not surprised we pushed at the end.”

In the brief history of best-of-three wild card series, teams that won Game 1 have advanced 14 of 16 times. Of the 10 teams to take Game 1 on the road, eight have won the series, including seven by sweep. The Astros, who have advanced to seven straight AL Championship Series, are looking at a rare situation in early October—a win.

“I know this team,” McCormick said. “We can come through. We had good momentum at the end, and that will continue.”

The Astros will send Detroit native Hunter Brown to the mound in Game 2 on Wednesday afternoon, looking to even the series and snap a six-game losing streak of postseason games at home. A win in Game 2 on Thursday afternoon would force a winner-take-all Game 3, when Yusei Kikuchi will start for Houston.

“Obviously, it makes me feel great that my manager has the confidence in me to come back to me in this situation,” said Brown, who went 10-4 with a 2.20 ERA with 15 hits in his final 19 regular-season outings. “It's something I've prepared for and I've been looking forward to. So I'm excited for the opportunity.”

The Astros had no answer for the Tigers' Tarik Skubal, who led the AL pitching Triple Crown in wins, strikeouts and ERA this year. He held Houston scoreless through six innings, while Houston lefty Framber Valdez struggled to find the zone early, throwing 18 balls in his first 35 pitches.

“I missed all my pitches and got behind a lot of hitters, but I tried to close the game at three runs as much as I could,” Valdez said. “I did what I could.”

Valdez, making his 16th career postseason start, was outstanding in the second half of the season for the Astros, who won 14 of his last 16 starts. He was far from that Tuesday, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

“I thought his stuff was good overall,” Espada said. “His sinker was a little higher in the zone and they got a pretty good swing on that pitch. He fought in five mediums. He gave us a shot there.

Valdez got a double play to end the first, but he ran into trouble at first and second with one out. He induced the ground ball he wanted from Parker Meadows, who sprinted 30.3 feet per second down the first-base line to beat another double play. It loomed large as the Tigers reeled off three consecutive two-out singles to take a 3-0 lead.

“We didn't try to do too much,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “We say it sometimes to not try to be a hero and just play the game and see where it takes you.”

The Astros' plan was to be aggressive against Skubal, and those early swings turned into a 1-2-3 first inning on five pitches. Houston had two runners on third and fourth base but couldn't find a clutch hit. Skubal pitched another five-pitch inning in the fifth and finished with 88 pitches. Two other major league pitchers since 2000 have pitched two innings of five or fewer pitches in a postseason start: Kansas City's Johnny Cueto in Game 5 of the 2015 AL Division Series against Houston and Yankees great Andy Pettitte in Game 2 of 2003. Series vs. Marlins.

Not faring well against the Houston Tigers' bullpen, Will Vest replaced Skubal and struck out four of the five batters he faced, three of which were called strike threes. But the Astros — 0-for-56 in the regular season when trailing after eight innings — rallied in the top of the ninth with Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Yanner Diaz, who delivered an RBI single.

With the Minute Maid Park crowd on its feet, McCormick, in his first at-bat since Sept. 10, drew a walk to load the bases for Hayward, who smoked a liner to Torkelson.

“Outstanding work by everyone in that spot, that position,” Hayward said. “It's literally 'do everything to trust your process, grind it out, put up great ABs.' It doesn't go your way. That's the game.”