Paredes Doubles Houston Past Detroit After Tigers Blow 6-3 Lead
Isaac Paredes ripped a two-run double to right in the eighth inning, swinging Detroit's win probability from 54% to 15% and lifting Houston to an 8-6 final. The Tigers had led by three as recently as the fifth, only to watch their bullpen and defense unravel in the game's final frames.
Houston jumped out early and looked comfortable doing it. Cam Smith's 380-foot homer to left in the second scored Christian Walker and put the Astros up 2-0, and a Jeremy Peña run in the third stretched it to 3-0. Then Kerry Carpenter happened. With the bases loaded in the third, Carpenter launched a 390-foot shot to right center that cleared them all — McGonigle, Keith, and Torkelson all scored — flipping the game to a 4-3 Detroit lead in one swing. Carpenter finished 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBI, and for a few innings, that grand slam looked like the defining play of the night.
Detroit kept building. A Torkelson double scored Rogers in the fourth to make it 5-4, and Hao-Yu Lee went deep to left center in the fifth — 369 feet — pushing the lead to 6-4. The Tigers were in control, Framber Valdez was eating innings (6.0 IP, 4 ER, 0 BB), and Houston's offense appeared to be running out of answers. Appearances, it turns out, were deceiving. Walker singled home Paredes in the seventh to cut it to 6-5, and then the eighth inning turned into a full collapse. Peña singled to center, a fielding error by center fielder Outman allowed two runs to score and put runners in scoring position, and suddenly it was tied at six. Detroit's defense had handed Houston exactly the opening it needed.
That's when Paredes delivered the knockout. His double to right scored both Peña and Vázquez, swinging Detroit's win probability from 54% to 15% in a single at-bat and making it 8-6 Houston. Peña was the engine all night — 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored — and Walker was quietly relentless at 4-for-5. On the mound, Bryan King and Josh Hader each threw a scoreless inning to close it out, combining for 2.0 IP, 0 hits, and 2 strikeouts. The story of the night was Detroit's inability to protect a lead it had earned the hard way: Carpenter's grand slam deserved a better fate than a bullpen that couldn't hold the line when it mattered most.