Paredes, Walker Erase Three-Run Hole as Houston Stuns Detroit 7-5

Christian Walker's three-run homer to left in the 10th inning turned a one-run Houston lead into a four-run cushion and effectively ended Detroit's night. The Astros rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win 7-5, with Isaac Paredes at the center of every critical moment.

Detroit looked in control early. Zach McKinstry's two-run shot to right center — 386 feet — staked the Tigers to a 2-0 lead in the second, and a Houston fielding error by second baseman Raynel Delgado let another run score in the fifth, pushing the advantage to 3-0. Jack Flaherty was doing his part, spinning five innings of two-hit, zero-earned-run ball with nine strikeouts. The Astros were being handled, and Detroit's win probability sat at 80% heading into the later innings.

Then Paredes happened. Delgado — the same player who had gifted Detroit a run with his glove — atoned with a 409-foot homer to right in the seventh that brought Houston within one. One inning later, Paredes crushed a solo shot to left, 402 feet, and just like that the game was tied at 3. That swing is the one that broke Detroit open: win probability lurched from 80% in Detroit's favor all the way down to 52% on a single pitch. The Astros didn't stop there. In the 10th, Paredes singled to right to score Peña and put Houston ahead 4-3, and then Walker unloaded a 394-foot blast to left that scored Alvarez and Paredes, making it 7-3. Paredes finished 3-for-5 with a homer, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. Walker was 1-for-4 but his one hit was worth three runs.

Detroit made it interesting in the bottom of the 10th — Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run shot to right center, 379 feet, to pull it to 7-5 — but that was as close as the Tigers would get. Josh Hader closed it out with a scoreless inning, allowing no hits despite issuing three walks. Hunter Brown went six innings for Houston, allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits. The story of the night, though, belongs to the Astros' offense: three home runs from three different players, a comeback authored almost entirely in the final three innings. Detroit's bullpen, which had to absorb the 10th after Flaherty's strong outing, couldn't hold what the starter built. That looks like a painful loss for a Tigers team that appeared to have this one well in hand.