Tigers top Verlander after crazy last out

HOUSTON -- The Tigers' best win of the year, a 2-1 victory over the Astros on Wednesday at Minute Maid Park, involved several clutch, if not heart-stopping, moments and was stressful until the end. That's no exaggeration. Had the the last play not been perfectly executed, the game could have very well stretched to extra innings.

Instead, Detroit squeezed out one more defensive gem in a game that was filled with them.

"For our ballclub, it's huge, I can tell you that right now," Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I haven't seen them this excited in a long time."

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The Tigers were clinging to the one-run lead in the ninth inning but still had to get through a very scary part of the vaunted Houston lineup. Closer Joe Jimenez was tasked with facing Yordan Alvarez, the rookie phenom who's on a historic home run pace, Yuli Gurriel, the American League's Player of the Month in July, and Robinson Chrinos, who doubled, singled and homered in his first three at-bats of the game.

Alvarez struck out looking, and Gurriel went down swinging. But Chirinos sent a ball to the gap in right-center field, just out of the reach of a diving Travis Demeritte, who came charging from right field. Center fielder Harold Castro retrieved the ball quickly and made a perfect throw to second baseman Gordon Beckham, who relayed the ball with a laser throw to Dawel Lugo at third base.

Chirinos, who needed a triple to complete the cycle, instead recorded a game-ending out.

"We're playing opposite shift, a pull shift, and he hits the ball in the gap and you're like, 'Oh no,'" Gardenhire said. "The kid [Demeritte] dives for it, center fielder goes over and makes a perfect throw to the cutoff man and we make a perfect throw to third. I think Chirinos may have been out of gas on the way there. We were lucky enough that we got him."

The play was one of several that turned this game into an instant Tigers classic.

A timely homer

Verlander and John Hicks both grew up in Goochland, Va. Verlander and Hicks' brother, Daniel, were teammates in high school and have remained friends. Each was in the other's wedding. John and Verlander's younger brother, Ben, are also close friends.

The two families may want to avoid talking about the ninth inning the next time they're gathering for a little Christmas cheer.

"I'm sure my brother will hear from him," Hicks said, in jest. "I'm sure he won't be too happy with me, but we'll be all right."

Hicks' 412-foot homer off Verlander ended up being the difference in the game.

"It's kind of one of those games," Verlander said. "I think you had a feel for that early on. I don’t blame anybody but myself. I could have done a better job executing a pitch there in the ninth inning."

Said Hicks: "Honestly, I was a little surprised he didn't go back to the slider after he got me on the at-bat before. I just tried to stay with my approach and stay with the fastball approach and adjust to the offspeed. Thankfully, I got one to hit."

The Tigers recorded two hits in this game: Hicks' homer and Rodriguez's solo shot in the fifth.

"It was two fastballs -- I don't think it got exactly where [Verlander] wanted to," Hicks said. "Fortunately, we didn't miss them. He got his strikeouts and only gave up two hits. Two home runs. Score more than they did -- that's important."

A pitching gem

The hype surrounding the Astros-Tigers showdown focused mostly on one pitcher who was expected to dominate -- and he did. But there was a twist: the pitchers on the other side had quite a showing, as well.

Verlander was nearly flawless against his former team, but Tigers pitchers were just a little better in the run column.

Daniel Norris, who was prearranged to throw only three innings as he nears his limit for the season, allowed two hits -- a leadoff single to George Springer and a one-out double to Chirinos in the second -- but allowed no runs. He also struck out Jose Altuve twice.

"Like last time, just come out firing," Norris said. "I want to use my best pitches when I get ahead. Today I was able to get ahead and attack and have conviction with all my pitches, and I felt good with that."

Tyler Alexander took over in the fourth and was nearly as effective as his predecessor. Alexander walked Alex Bregman, his first batter, but was stingy through the sixth, yielding two base hits without allowing a run. His only blemish was Chirinos' homer that led off the seventh.

"Norris started off the game really good, and I just wanted to continue that," Alexander said. "I just try to give as many innings as I could -- four, hopefully five. One pitch got hit very, very far. Other than that, I thought I did well."

An improbable double play

Before the Tigers’ clinical defense in the ninth inning, they executed their first defensive gem of the game in the eighth inning with the score knotted at 1. Reliever Buck Farmer issued a one-out walk to Altuve, who took off to second as Alex Bregman grounded to short, The only play was to first base, but Rodriguez, noticing Altuve never stopped running, fired a strike from first base to third, where Lugo put a perfect tag on Altuve.

Astros manager AJ Hinch challenged the call, but a review that lasted less than a minute confirmed the call.

"That's what we talk about," Gardenhire said. "If you make plays behind these pitchers, you have a chance to win baseball games. And tonight, we made plays."