Tigers 'pen thrives after Turnbull's brief outing

HOUSTON -- Tuesday's matchup between the Tigers and Astros was not intended to be a "bullpen game" for either team, but with both starting pitchers out by the end of the third inning, it was up to a slew of relievers on both sides to absorb the majority of the innings.

The Astros fared better than the Tigers, who lost, 6-3, but Detroit’s bullpen kept the damage to a minimum at Minute Maid Park, allowing one run over five innings in relief of starter Spencer Turnbull.

This was not a particularly well-pitched game for either team. The first clean inning didn’t arrive until the seventh, when Tigers reliever Jose Cisnero recorded outs on Martin Maldonado, who grounded to short, Jack Mayfield and George Springer, who both struck out. Prior to that, the Astros and Tigers generated at least one baserunner in each of the first six innings, with Houston doing more damage -- especially in the first two frames.

• Box score

Single innings have defined the first two games of the series, and so far, the Astros have been able to make their dominant flashes count more than the Tigers have. Here are three key elements that made the difference in Tuesday's loss in Houston:

Turnbull struggles

Turnbull threw 73 pitches over three innings and was stung by long balls and bad luck. He yielded back-to-back home runs to George Springer and Jose Altuve to begin his outing, and he allowed three more runs in a second inning that could have been shorter with a little karma on his side.

With runners on first and third base and one out, Altuve sent a dribbler down the third-base line that barely stayed fair. Martin Maldonado scored easily, and two more runs scored when Michael Brantley laced an opposite-field double, giving the Tigers a 5-1 lead.

"I felt I almost got out of the second," Turnbull said. "That dribbler that Altuve hit -- that's just unfortunate. That's the way it goes sometimes, but that one really stung."

The early home runs certainly didn't do anything to help Turnbull get in a groove, either. The command issues were a problem throughout, and it didn't help that the first two innings dragged on, which likely had residual effects on the hitters.

"I think the first two innings with the Bull, he was just all over the place -- misfiring, and [throwing] a lot of pitches," Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. "His last inning was better, but his first two were just misfires.

"You get 70-something pitches out of him, and we're standing out playing defense, and that's when you start giving up runs. We're too long out there, and [Matt Hall] came in and it was kind of the same thing. A lot of traffic out there. Before you know it, it kind of took us out of our flow of offense. We were playing so much defense. And that's what normally happens."

A disappointing third frame

Following Turnbull's abbreviated outing, the Tigers were forced to play catch-up, but they fell short of fully taking advantage of a poor outing by Houston right-hander Aaron Sanchez.

Gordon Beckham doubled to lead off the third, and he scored on Miguel Cabrera's bases-loaded walk. Reyes scored on a ground ball by Dawel Lugo, but ultimately, the Tigers could not break through with the big hit – or any hit, really.

Sanchez and his replacement, Brad Peacock, struggled to throw strikes, but a young and inexperienced Tigers lineup was unable to capitalize. Too many hitters chased pitches out of the strike zone, likely shortening the inning.

"You know you've got to go up there and look for a pitch until you get in a hole, and then you've got to battle," Gardenhire said. "From the get-go, first pitch, we chase out of the zone, and now you're down in the hole already.”

Gardenhire pointed out that while that's been an ongoing theme this season, these struggles are to be expected of young hitters who "get excited in that situation."

"I don't think they really trust themselves to get behind in the count right now or take a strike one when you get in those big situations," Gardenhire said. "They'll learn from it as we go along from it, and hopefully, they'll get better."

Cabrera, the elder statesman on a team full of rookies, understands this season is about growing as a rebuilding team.

"We're learning ... when they have to be patient and when they have to be aggressive," Cabrera said. "In that situation, we had to be patient because [Sanchez] was around the zone a lot. He was making some pitches, but we didn't take them. We're still learning. If we learn the situation better, I think we'd be able to score more runs."

Solid relief work, again

The Tigers are 0-2 in the series so far, but that record is no fault of their bullpen, which has allowed one run over a combined eight innings over the two games.

Cisnero, who pitched for the Astros from 2013-14, threw two scoreless frames, including the seventh.

"I was excited and also anxious to face them," Cisnero said. "I told myself I had to give 100 percent, the best of me when I faced these guys. Fortunately, that's what happened."