The Tigers left Detroit last week with four consecutive series victories to their credit.
They return home reeling from a poor trip in which they dropped five of six games.
The Tigers will try to reverse that trend during a six-game homestand that begins on Friday night against the struggling Houston Astros.
Detroit scored just seven runs during a four-game losing streak that was snapped by an 11-7 victory at Cleveland on Tuesday. The Guardians hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of the series finale on Wednesday afternoon, then emerged with a 5-4, 10-inning victory.
The Tigers made two errors that led to unearned runs. Javier Baez, Detroit’s automatic runner in the 10th, made a baserunning gaffe and got thrown out at second trying to retreat on a grounder to shortstop.
“You saw the mistakes,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “Too many mistakes. Pick a side of the ball and we didn’t do enough to win the game. This one got away because we put ourselves in a really tough spot.”
Casey Mize (1-1, 3.98 ERA) will start the first game of the three-game weekend series against the Astros. The right-hander lost for the first time in six starts this year on Saturday, when he gave up five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings against the New York Yankees.
The Yankees scored four runs in the third, a frame that featured a two-out, three-run homer from Anthony Rizzo.
“It’s frustrating, but I put myself in a bad spot,” Mize said. “I almost wriggled out of it and he hits a homer. It’s frustrating that I didn’t give us a chance to win. That’s the most frustrating thing. That’s what I try to do every time out and (Saturday) I didn’t do that.”
Framber Valdez (1-1, 3.97), Houston’s scheduled Friday starter, is also coming off his roughest outing of the season. He also allowed five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings during a 5-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.
The Astros’ manager felt Valdez’s outing was much better than it looked in the box score.
“I thought he threw the ball well,” Joe Espada said. “He got some ground balls. His stuff looked really good.”
Valdez is 1-2 with a 2.48 ERA in seven career outings (six starts) against Detroit. Mize has won both of his career starts against Houston, posting a 0.69 ERA.
The Astros snapped a four-game losing streak on Thursday by defeating the host New York Yankees 4-3.
Houston scored three runs in the first inning on homers from Yordan Alvarez and Jon Singleton, then hung on for a much-needed victory. Josh Hader got the final four outs for his fourth save.
Alvarez went deep for the eighth time this year, but it was his first long ball in 10 games.
“That was a big win for us,” Houston shortstop Jeremy Pena said. “We needed that, and we’re going to try to build off that.”
Pena has five hits over the last two games, raising his season average to .333.
The Astros will look to build some momentum this weekend before they return to Houston for a 10-game homestand.
–Field Level Media