Tigers 3 - 4 Astros
Final/11
  for this game

Castro's blast in 11th lifts Astros past Tigers

Jun 28, 2014 - 6:22 AM Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Jason Castro smacked a walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a three-game set.

Neither team threatened after the Tigers tied the game in the eighth until Castro lined a one-out shot into the right field seats off Blaine Hardy (0-1) to snap Detroit's seven-game winning streak.

"That was fun, he's really starting to come along," Astros manager Bo Porter said of Castro.

Jake Buchanan (1-1) tossed a scoreless top of the 11th to notch his first career win.

Jose Altuve posted four hits, an RBI and scored two runs for the Astros, who have won two straight on the heels of 1-8 stretch.

Justin Verlander struck out eight and allowed three runs on six hits and a walk over six innings in a no-decision for Detroit. Nick Castellanos cracked a solo blast, while Ian Kinsler had three of the Tigers' eight hits.

The Astros opened the scoring with a run in the first. Altuve led off with a single, stole second, then scored on a Verlander wild pitch and Alex Avila throwing error in succession.

Verlander bounced a pitch that caromed off Avila and landed a few feet in front of him. Avila then fired to third to try and nab Altuve, but the throw sailed into left field and Altuve crossed the plate.

J.D. Martinez began the second with a single, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on an Avila two-out base hit into right center. Castellanos' two-out solo shot into the Crawford Boxes in left gave the Tigers a 2-1 edge in the fourth.

Houston went back in front following its two-run fifth.

L.J. Hoes singled to start, went to second on Verlander's throwing error on a pickoff attempt and advanced to third on Jonathan Villar's sacrifice bunt. He was pushed across on Altuve's double. Altuve held up at third on George Springer's single, but later stole home.

Altuve broke for the plate on an Avila pickoff attempt of Springer and slid safely before Miguel Cabrera's throw from first reached Avila to make it 3-2 for the hosts.

"He's one of those guys you have to keep off the base paths, and that is not easily done," Verlander said of Altuve.

Detroit used a pair of Astros errors in the eighth to knot the contest.

Eugenio Suarez was given a second chance when his pop up was misplayed in foul territory by Jonathan Singleton. Singleton appeared to settle under the fly ball down the first base line, but then let the ball drop as the right fielder Springer charged forward.

Suarez then worked a walk against Jose Veras and Kinsler then popped out, but Suarez scampered to second on a Torii Hunter groundout. He scored to tie it when Villar bounced the throw to first on Cabrera's routine grounder to the shortstop.

Game Notes

Martinez went 2-for-5 and scored a run ... Castro's homer was his seventh of the year ... The Astros went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position, while Detroit went 1-for-5.






Related News