How Astros player power rankings just took a surprising twist
WILD TURN OF EVENTS
13 June 2023
The Houston Astros are already a third of the way into the season, and one of the pleasant surprises has been the play of utility man Mauricio Dubon.
Dubon was a critical piece to the puzzle, with Jose Altuve missing a chunk of the season from a fractured thumb. Not only did he hold down second base in Altuve's absence, but he's continued to play well enough to deserve playing time even after Altuve's return.
Mauricio has made some terrific plays in the outfield and has the highest batting average on the team.
Another player that has shocked us this season is Jose Abreu. Abreu has shown some signs of life recently, but overall has been a big disappointment at this stage of the season.
Be sure to watch the video above as we discuss which players have been the most valuable so far this year, and what we should expect moving forward.
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Gleyber Torres drew a 10th-inning walk to send home Wenceel Pérez and give the Detroit Tigers a 1-0 win over Houston on Tuesday night, the Astros third consecutive shutout loss.
Pérez started the 10th as the automatic runner on second base and took third on Andy Ibáñez’s fly to deep right. Kaleb Ort (2-2) intentionally walked Dillon Dingler, then struck out Javier Báez for the second out.
Jahmai Jones walked, loading the bases, and Torres took a 3-2 sweeper low and outside to register his 500th career RBI.
Will Vest (6-2) gave up one hit over two scoreless innings.
The game featured a marquee pitching matchup, with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal against Detroit native and All-Star Hunter Brown.
The pair combined to allow eight hits in 13 scoreless innings. Skubal’s 10 strikeouts in seven innings made him the first pitcher to reach 200 in 2025.
The Tigers put runners on the corners with one out in the third, but Christian Walker snared Kerry Carpenter’s low liner and stepped on first for an inning-ending double play.
Zach McKinstry led off the fifth with his ninth triple, but Brown escaped the inning with a groundball, a strikeout and a fly out.
The start of the game was delayed 35 minutes by rain.
Key moment
The Astros nearly took the lead in the fourth inning, but Torres’ relay throw to the plate was in time to erase Yainer Diaz at the plate. Houston challenged the call, and initial replays seemed to show Diaz’s hand got to the plate before Dingler made the tag, but the call was confirmed by New York.
Key stat
The crowd of 30,770 gave the Tigers a season attendance of 1,893,473 through 65 games. Last season, they drew 1,858,295. They have already sold enough tickets to reach 2 million for the first time since 2017.
Up next
Tigers RHP Charlie Morton (8-10, 5.20 ERA) faces LHP Framber Valdez (11-6, 3.01) on Wednesday.
