How Astros appear to be on collision course with historic offenses
MAKING HISTORY
07 June 2023
The Houston Astros have been on a tear over this recent stretch of games, but they haven't gained any ground on the Rangers who continue to put up runs at a historic pace.
Houston's pitching is elite again this year, but the offense is just mediocre at this point in the season. The Rangers and Rays are getting things done with elite offense and pitching, which has them leading the best two divisions in baseball.
So will the Rangers and Rays fall back to the pack like the Yankees did last year, or will the Astros have to step their game up to win the AL pennant once again?
Editor's note: This video was recorded before Jacob deGrom's surgery was announced.
Jacob deGrom will undergo Tommy John surgery and is out indefinitely, per @Evan_P_Grant pic.twitter.com/TuIPBAp6XV
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 6, 2023
Plus, which team is the biggest threat to the Astros? The Rays or the Rangers?
Be sure to watch the video above as we break it all down.
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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.
