Houston Astros vs Detroit Tigers Game Player Stats and Box Scores for October 1

The Houston Astros hosted the Detroit Tigers at Minute Maid to start the MLB Wild Card Round on Tuesday. The Astros clinched AL West, earning them a home advantage for this round against the Tigers, who claimed the third and last AL Wild Card spot.

Left-handed Framber Valdez (15-7, 2.91 ERA) took the mound for the Astros, while southpaw Tarik Skubal (18-4, 2.39 ERA) started the game for the Tigers.

Both Valdez and Skubal made easy work of hitters in the first innings. However, the Tigers hit the can in the second inning, scoring multiple runs for an early 3-0 lead.

Tigers catcher Jake Rogers drove in Wenceel Perez for the first run of the game. This was followed by another RBI single from Trey Sweeney, who drove in Parker Meadows. Matt Vierling also hit an RBI single to add another run for the Tigers. Meanwhile, Skubal continues to retire hitters in order in the Astros' half of the inning.

The bottom of the third inning saw Tarik Skubal getting into a jam. However, the AL Cy Young contender came out unscathed, retaining the Tigers' 3-0 lead.

Valdez was replaced in the fifth inning after he allowed a single to Justyn-Henry Malloy and a strikeout to follow before Joe Espada brought in Hector Neris to get the remaining two outs.

On the other end, Tarik Skubal completed an incredible outing on the mound for the Tigers. With a 3-0 lead intact, Skubal pitched six scoreless innings, striking out six in the process.

Both teams struggled to score with moments coming in and going without any damage. Astros' closer Josh Hader came took the mound in the ninth to not let Detroit get away with the lead. And while Riley Greene was able to get down to third following a ground-rule double, Hader closed off the innings unscathed.

Bottom of the 9th inning:

With Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz set to hit in order, Tigers' closer Jason Foley (28 saves in the regular season) came in to protect the 3-0 lead and win the game.

Foley allowed a double to Alvarez to start the bottom of the ninth. A base hit from Bregman brought the tying run to the plate as pinch runner as Zach Dezenzo got to third. Diaz hit to the right field for an RBI single as Bregman moves up to second as the Astros cut the deficit to 3-1.

Jeremy Pena's sacrifice bunt advanced runners to second and third as the winning run came to the plate in the form of Victor Caratini. Beau Brieske replaced Foley on the mound, who retired Caratini on a fly-out with runners staying put. Chas McCormick was walked as the Astros loaded the bases, with drama intensifying at Minute Maid Park.

Jason Heyward, whom the Astros signed in the second half of the season, was retired as the Tigers beat the Astros to win Game 1 3-1.

Houston Astros vs Detroit Tigers Game Player Stats

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Final
Astros	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Tigers	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3

Houston Astros’ player stats

Hitting:

HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
J. Altuve 2B	4	0	1	0	.250
K. Tucker RF	4	0	0	0	.000
Y. Alvarez DH	4	0	2	0	.500
Z. Dezenzo PR	0	1	0	0	.000
A. Bregman 3B	4	0	2	0	.500
Y. Diaz C	3	0	1	1	.333
J. Pena SS	3	0	0	0	.000
V. Caratini 1B	4	0	1	0	.250
M. Dubon LF	2	0	0	0	.000
a- J. Singleton PH	1	0	0	0	.000
C. McCormick LF-CF	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Meyers CF	2	0	0	0	.000
b- J. Heyward PH-LF	2	0	0	0	.000

Pitching:

PITCHERS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
F. Valdez	4.1	7	3	2	3	6.23
H. Neris	0.2	0	0	1	2	0.00
B. King	0.2	1	0	0	1	0.00
R. Blanco	2.0	1	0	3	4	0.00
C. Ferguson	0.1	0	0	0	0	0.00
J. Hader	1.0	1	0	0	0	0.00

Detroit Tigers player stats

Hitting:

HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
M. Vierling 3B	4	0	1	1	0.25
J. Malloy DH	2	0	1	0	0.5
b- K. Carpenter PH-DH	2	0	0	0	0
R. Greene LF	5	0	1	0	0.2
A. Ibanez 2B	2	0	1	0	0.5
a- C. Keith PH-2B	1	0	0	0	0
Z. McKinstry 2B	0	0	0	0	0
W. Perez RF	5	1	2	0	0.4
S. Torkelson 1B	2	0	0	0	0
P. Meadows CF	4	1	1	0	0.25
J. Rogers C	4	1	2	1	0.5
T. Sweeney SS	4	0	1	1	0.25

Pitching:

PITCHERS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
T. Skubal(W, 1-0)	6.0	4	0	1	6	0.00
W. Vest(H, 1)	1.2	0	0	0	4	0.00
T. Holton(H, 1)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0.00
J. Foley(H, 1)	0.1	3	1	0	0	27.00
B. Brieske(S, 1)	0.2	0	0	1	0	0.00