Astros face elimination after dropping Game 1 by 'inches'

HOUSTON -- The ball rocketed off the bat of Jason Heyward, and for a split-second Tuesday afternoon, it appeared as though the Astros had pulled off a stunning come-from-behind win. When Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson squeezed his glove for the final out in the ninth inning, the excitement turned quickly to disappointment.

And now the Astros face desperation.

Heyward lined out with two outs and the bases loaded for a heart-stopping ending to Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series at Minute Maid Park, where the never-say-die Tigers kept their improbable run going with a 3-1 win over the Astros -- Detroit’s first postseason win since 2013.

“Games of inches, right?” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He hits that ball a few inches, a few feet over his head, that ball gets hit in the corner and [Chas] McCormick scores from first [and we win]. … Those guys never quit, so I’m not surprised by our push there at the end.”

In the brief history of the best-of-three Wild Card Series, teams winning Game 1 have gone on to advance 14 out of 16 times. Of the 10 teams to take Game 1 on the road, eight have won the series, including seven via sweep. The Astros, who have advanced to seven consecutive AL Championship Series, are staring at a rare early October must-win situation.

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

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

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

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

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

Valdez, making his 16th career postseason start, was terrific in the second half of the season for the Astros, who won 14 of his final 16 starts. He was a far cry 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 overall was good,” Espada said. “His sinker was staying up in the zone a bit, and they got some pretty good swings on those pitches. He battled through five. He gave us a shot there.”

Valdez got a double play to end the first, but he got into trouble in the second with runners at first and second and one out. He induced the ground ball he wanted from Parker Meadows, who raced down the first-base line with a sprint speed of 30.3 feet per second to beat out another double play. That loomed large, as the Tigers pieced together three consecutive two-out singles for a 3-0 lead.

“We just didn't try to do too much,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We say this sometimes about not trying to be the 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 led to a 1-2-3 first inning on five pitches. Houston had two runners on base in the third and fourth but couldn’t find a clutch hit. Skubal turned in another five-pitch inning in the fifth and finished at 88 pitches. Just two other Major League pitchers since 2000 had put up two innings of five pitches or fewer 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 the 2003 World Series vs. the Marlins.

Houston didn’t fare any better against the Tigers’ bullpen, with Will Vest replacing Skubal and striking out four of the five batters he faced, including three called strike threes. But the Astros -- 0-for-56 in the regular season when trailing after eight innings -- rallied in the ninth on hits by Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Yainer 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 Heyward, who smoked a liner right at Torkelson.

“Outstanding job by everyone to be in that spot, that position,” Heyward said. “That’s literally the epitome of ‘Do everything you can to trust your process, grind it out, put up great ABs.’ Doesn’t go your way. That’s the game.”