The story of the Detroit Tigers disastrous 2026 season can be told via the injury list and the bullpen’s inability to hold leads with any consistency. The latter has been on display all season, despite no major injuries to core pieces, and they blew it again with a little help from a bad defensive play. The Astros rallied back against Tyler Holton and Kyle Finnegan, and then mauled Kenley Jansen in the top of the 10th inning to win the game and take the series three games to one.
Jack Flaherty returned from the injured list in this one, bumping Enmanuel de Jesus, who has been pitching really well for two months, down to Triple-A Toledo. Flaherty looked reinvigorated by his time off, and put together a fine outing as his teammates battled one of the tougher starting pitchers in the game in RHP Hunter Brown. As has been the case so often, the Tigers won the battle of the starting pitchers only to watch the game fall apart in the late innings.
Flaherty came out throwing darts. He struck out Jeremy Peña and Christian Walker in the first, walking Yordan Alvarez, which is rarely a terrible idea, before wrapping up a scoreless first.
Brown tunneled a good low fastball after a changeup down and away on the same line to lock up Kevin McGonigle. That opened the bottom of the first. Colt Keith, in the two spot and playing first base with Spencer Torkelson on the bench, sliced a double the opposite way but he was stranded. Flaherty punched out Joey Loperfido and Yainer Diaz in a quick top of the second. Kerry Carpenter singled to open the bottom half, and then Zach McKinstry timed up a good Brown heater and blasted it to right field for a two-run homer.
Matt Vierling came up with a two-out knock later in the inning, and then stole second base. It went for naught, as McGonigle flew out to center field.
So Flaherty had a 2-0 lead, and he ran with it. Jake Meyers led off the third with a double, and that produced a stressful inning when he was wild pitched to third. However, Flaherty dug in and rather than shying away from contact, he came right after Raynel Delgado and Jeremy Peña, collecting swinging strike threes. He climbed the ladder against Yordan Alvarez and the Astros masher lifted a pop-up to Riley Greene in left, ending the threat.
A leadoff single from Isaac Paredes opened the fourth. A Walker grounder forced Paredes at second, but Loperfido walked for a one-out jam. Flaherty had the answer again, as Diaz lifted a fly out to right field. Trammell challenged a 3-2 pitch and correctly drew a walk, but the Tigers’ right-hander whiffed Meyers to again turn the Astros away.
The Tigers got another leadoff single from Carpenter in the bottom of the fourth, but again that didn’t go anywhere. Flaherty whiffed Peña, and then froze Yordan Alvarez in the top of the fifth to wrap up a strong outing.
His final line was 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 9 K.
In the bottom of the fifth, Kevin McGonigle drew a one-out walk. He took second on a Colt Keith grounder to the second baseman, Delgado. Riley Greene tested Delgado with a harder ground ball, and he booted it, allowing McGonigle to score from second for a 3-0 lead. That’s pretty good work against Hunter Brown, but it would still take another inning to get him out of the game.
Flaherty was out of the game, and Tyler Holton tossed a 1-2-3 sixth, getting Paredes, Walker, and then Cam Smith, who pinch-hit for Loperfido.
The Tigers got a two-out walk to Hao-Yu Lee, hey take your walks, buddy, in the bottom of the sixth. James Outman got down in the count, and so Lee opted to try and steal second. He was ruled safe, but a challenge showed he was just out by a hair. On to the seventh. Still 3-0 Tigers.
Holton got Diaz to open the seventh, and then Brice Matthews pinch-hit for Trammell and flew out. Unfortunately, the Tigers then Tiger’d. Colt Keith is ostensibly the club’s backup first baseman, but he never gets any reps there and that bit them on an errant throw from McGonigle after a Jake Meyers grounder. Keith tried to keep his foot on the base as he stretched all the way out, and he just flat out missed the throw. Meyers took second, and so there was a bit of two-out trouble. It quickly bit them, as the rookie Delgado climbed the ladder for a first pitch sweeper above the zone and cranked it to right for a two-run shot. That was the first home run of his career. 3-2 Tigers.
Not good. Obviously that’s on Colt Keith to a degree, but it’s really on McGonigle for the throw. They weren’t getting Meyers on that throw either way. Even so, every bit of adversity seems to crack Tigers relievers’ heads open, with disaster often following. Kyle Finnegan took over and gave up a single to Peña. He dug in and got a ground ball to end the inning from Alvarez. The Tigers have handled him extremely well in this series at least.
So, rather than see the Astros weaker relievers, they got Bryan Abreu in the bottom of the seventh. Outman opened the frame with a line drive single, and then Matt Vierling dropped a sacrifice bnnt to move him to second. Abreu wanted nothing to do with McGonigle, and walked him, but Colt Keith, seeking redemption, found none as he flew out to left field. Manager Joe Espada called on lefty Steven Okert to handle Riley Greene, and he did, getting the Tigers’ left fielder to pop out, stranding two.
So, a one-run game, two innings to go, what could go wrong? Obviously the Tigers have been atrocious in one-run games in the late innings, so the fear was, “everything.”
Those fears were immediately realized, when Finnegan missed with a splitter and then a slider against Isaac Paredes. He fired a heater right down the middle, and Paredes launched it to left to tie the game 3-3.
As has been the case all season, this bullpen remains a huge weakness. ERA doesn’t matter in relief work. Holding leads matters, and the Tigers’ bullpen has failed as much as any group in baseball this year.
Finnegan followed that up by walking Walker. He locked up Cam Smith with a fastball for the first out of the inning, but he was a long way from getting back into the dugout. Diaz got in a 3-2 count and chased two pitches out of the zone to bail Finnegan out. He fouled the first one off and whiffed on the second. With two outs, that left it to Matthews, but he took strike three in the upper corner after Dingler correctly challenged a ball call to get the Tigers out of the inning.
Bryan King took over for Okert in the bottom of the eighth. Dingler grounded out, but Spencer Torkelson pinch-hit for Carpenter and ripped a single to left. That was quickly erased by a chopper right to second base from McKinstry that became an inning ending double play ball.
Torkelson stayed in the game as the designated hitter, so it was still Keith at first with Kenley Jansen taking over. Meyers greeted the future Hall of Famer with a laser to McGonigle. The Tigers’ third baseman was in looking for a bunt and made a nice snare. Delgado lifted a weak fly ball to right for the second out. That brought up Peña, with Alvarez looming. The ideal was to get Peña, keep Yordan out of this, and then walk them off. Peña whiffed on two cutters, then fouled off two. Jansen pulled a perfect slider out of his bag of tricks, and Peña struck out swinging.
That brought Josh Hader, Astros closer, to the mound. The task would not be easy for the back half of the Tigers’ lineup, and Hao-Yu Lee chased an 0-2 slider and struck out. Still needed a little more patience from the 23-year-old rookie. AJ Hinch pinch-hit Ben Malgeri in for James Outman against the lefty.
Malgeri fell behind 0-2 but showed off the gritty, battling style he was known for in the Tigers’ system. He battled back to 3-2, fouling off some tough pitches, and drew a one-out walk. Vierling made a bid on a little drive in the left center field gap, but it stayed up and Matthews ran it down to make a sliding catch.
So, it was up to Kevin McGonigle. Hader got ahead of him, but didn’t really want to throw anything else in the strike zone. The rookie worked it to 3-2 and drew a walk on a heater well out of the zone. That left it to Jahmai Jones, hitting for Colt Keith, and probably just needing a single to win it. Hader missed with two fastballs to start the at-bat, and then missed again. Jones had the green light, but a fastball just off the outer edge was fouled off. Hader yanked a slider down, and he had walked the bases loaded as Riley Greene dug into the batter’s box.
Hader located a sinker for strike one, and then Greene chased a heater up. Hader missed with the next pitch, but another 97 mph sinker above the zone drew the whiff as Greene took too big a hack, and a pretty packed weekend crowd at Comerica Park groaned in misery. Greene’s batting average in high leverage counts dropped to .210 with that whiff. His career mark is .277 with a 109 wRC+ but it’s even been a struggle for him this season.
Kenley Jansen stayed in the game in the tenth, with Peña starting at second and Yordan at the plate. Jansen missed with four straight to walk Alvarez, and that was probably the plan, setting up a double play ball, though Jansen is decidedly a fly ball pitcher and hasn’t gone two innings in about a year. On the other hand, he’d only needed seven pitches in the ninth.
Isaac Paredes fell behind 0-2, but another cutter was punched into right center field for a single. Malgeri fired home too late, and it was 4-3 game, still with no one out. Things would get worse, as Christian Walker got a cut fastball right in the sweet spot in a 2-2 count and he drove it over the left field wall for a three-run shot. 7-3 Astros.
Predictable, really.
Jansen got Cam Smith to ground out, and then he departed as Jacob Waguespack took over to clean up the mess. Diaz grounded out.
Enyel de los Santos handled the bottom of the 10th. Riley Greene was at second. Dillon Dingler struck out on a slider for the first out. Torkelson pulled a 1-0 hanger just foul to left, and then whiffed on a sinker. The next pitch was a fourseamer belt high away, and the Tigers first baseman hammered a line drive the opposite way for a two-run homer. Thought we’d see a lot more of that oppo power once upon a time. 7-5 Astros.
Zack McKinstry was up next, and he missed an opportunity to challenge a 3-0 fastball up that was called a strike but was actually above the zone. It didn’t matter, as McKinstry lined the next pitch to right for a one-out single. Hao-Yu Lee bounced out, moving McKinstry to second, and so it was up to Ben Malgeri again.
A 2-2 pitch was yanked wild, moving McKinstry to third, and Santos missed with a slider to walk Malgeri after a failed Astros’ challenge.
So, it was first and third with two outs, and Matt Vierling at the dish with McGonigle looming. Vierling put a good swing on a 1-1 heater, but he flew out to the warning track in right. Ballgame.
The Tigers fall to 35-49 on the year. They’ll head to the Bronx to take on the Yankees for three games starting on Monday night.
