Mark Canha hit a grand slam, Kerry Carpenter blasted a pair of homers and the host Detroit Tigers cruised to an 8-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.
Canha’s long ball highlighted a seven-run second. Riley Greene scored a run and knocked in another.
Tarik Skubal (5-0) gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out seven for the Tigers, who had lost six of their previous seven games. Shelby Miller and Tyler Holton combined to get the last eight outs.
Houston starter Cristian Javier (2-1) was roughed up in his return from the injured list. Javier, who hadn’t started since April 14 due to neck discomfort, surrendered seven runs on five hits and four walks in 1 1/3 innings.
Alex Bregman scored a run and drove in another for Houston.
Javier walked two batters in the opening inning and they were in scoring position when Matt Vierling lined out to end the inning.
Javier only got one out in the second, however. Colt Keith singled and stole second. Zach McKinstry drew a one-out walk and Jake Rogers singled to load the bases.
Greene walked on four pitches to bring in Keith with the first run. Canha then crushed a Javier changeup over the left-center field wall to make it 5-0. Wenceel Perez followed with a double before Carpenter lifted a fastball over the right field fence.
Houston scored two runs in the fourth. Jeremy Pena led off with a double and scored on Bregman’s one-out single. After Jon Singleton walked, Yainer Diaz brought home Bregman with a single.
Carpenter planted a Hunter Brown fastball over the left field wall in the bottom of the inning for an 8-2 lead. His second homer of the game was his fifth of the season.
Pena and Yordan Alvarez had two-out singles in the fifth but Skubal struck out Bregman to escape that jam.
–Field Level Media
