Former Lakeview, Wayne State star roughed up by Tigers
Safe to say, Monday’s game between the Houston Astros and Detroit Tigers was not the start Astros’ starter Hunter Brown was looking for.
Brown, the former Wayne State University and St. Clair Shores Lakeview star, grew up a Tigers’ fan, according to the game story report by the Associated Press.
Pitching against the previous winless Tigers on Monday, Brown allowed four runs, six hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. Along the way, Brown recorded five strikeouts.
He did not finish as the pitcher of record in Detroit’s 7-6 win in 11 innings.
Houston rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game in the fifth inning.
The rally ended when Matt Vierling made a sprawling basesloaded catch in right field on Maurico Dubon’s two-out liner.
Vierling then launched a tworun homer in the top of the 11th inning to plate what proved to be the winning run.
Riley Greene’s seventh-inning homer off Bryan Abreu put the Tigers ahead 5-4.
“They hung in there and kept fighting,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “It felt like we were one pitch away in a couple different innings. It is never over until you get the final out. We had to play some extra outs tonight but had some productive plays.”
Vierling, acquired from Philadelphia in an offseason trade, hit a one-out homer in the 11th off Héctor Neris (0-1) that scored Torkelson, the automatic runner.
“It’s huge,” Vierling said. “You beat a good team like that, and you compete with them until the very end, I think it shows a lot of character. You can kind of build on that throughout the year. It’s a good start.”
Trey Wingenter (1-0) pitched a perfect 10th. Alvarez grounded into a run-scoring forceout in the 11th, and Garrett Hill retired Abreu on a popup for his first save since 2017 at Santa Rosa Junior College.
Alex Lange, trying for his second major league save and first since 2021, allowed a one-out single to Alex Bregman in the ninth. Yordan Alvarez hit a sharp grounder to Spencer Torkelson, who stepped on first base and threw to second for what could have been a game-ending double play.
The throw hit Bregman on the back and, with an 0-2 count, José Abreu reached for a low and outside curveball and drove the ball to left. Austin Meadows tried for a leaping catch at the wall, and the ball bounced out of his glove for an RBI double. Chas McCormick followed with a flyout.
Detroit avoided its first 0-4 start since the 2008 season.
Houston swept Detroit 7-0 in the 2022 season series.