Detroit Tigers vs. Houston Astros game score: time, TV channel

Detroit Tigers (33-35) vs. Houston Astros (31-38)

When: 8:10 p.m. Friday.

Or: Minute Maid Park in Houston.

TV: Bally Sports Detroit. (Have Xfinity but still looking for a way to watch BSD? Here are some other options.)

Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1). (Tigers Radio Affiliates).

Likely launchers: Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal (8-1, 1.92 ERA) vs. Astros RHP Hunter Brown (2-5, 5.58).

Weather report: Sunny, 80s with a retractable roof.

• The score of the box

Tigers Roster: to be determined

INJURY UPDATE:Detroit Tigers slugger Kerry Carpenter reveals timetable for return from back injury

Game Notes: It’s a Motor City reunion of sorts in Houston tonight as the Tigers take on Metro Detroit native (and St. Clair Lakeshore and Wayne State alumnus) Hunter Brown. The 2019 fifth-round pick (No. 166 overall) had an exceptional first inning, with a 0.89 ERA in 20⅓ innings in 2022, but has struggled since. He spent all of last season in the Astros rotation, but posted a horrible 5.09 ERA in 155⅔ innings, albeit with 178 strikeouts. The main problem? Home runs – Brown allowed 26 appearances in 31 last season.

This season was even worse, as Brown finished April with a 9.78 ERA and just 24 strikeouts and 14 walks in 23 innings. But since then, the 25-year-old has changed things, thanks to the adoption of a new terrain.

Brown began throwing a sinker in his start on May 5 against the Seattle Mariners; he scattered five hits and four walks and one hit by pitch in 4⅓ innings, but allowed only two runs. Overall, since the start of May, Brown has a 3.05 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 38⅓ innings. The sinker isn’t particularly sharp, with movement about 10-20 percent worse than league average, but it was effective, already worth a run, according to MLB Statcast. (Compare that to his four-seam fastball, which only hits 92 mph and is worth minus-10 runs. Ouch.)

Brown’s improvement, with four straight quality starts, may not be sustainable — he’s still giving up too many homers (six in seven appearances since early May) and too many walks (15 in that span ), but he at least stemmed the bleeding that has the Astros — who have made six straight ALCS appearances — seven games under .500.

Of course, Brown’s opponent on the mound hasn’t needed any adjustment this season: Tarik Skubal is the favorite to start in the American League in next month’s All-Star Game, as well as the favorite to AL Cy Young Award. Skubal has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 10 of his last 11 starts, with only a four-run outing on the road against the Royals on May 22 marring his record.

Meanwhile, many of the Tigers’ hitters should be happy to return to the Lone Star State and, more specifically, Minute Maid Park. Riley Greene leads the active roster with a 1.455 OPS in Houston, thanks to a 6-for-12 run last season that included a triple and a home run, while Matt Vierling (1.418 OPS) went 7-for-13 last season with a double and a home run. Akil Baddoo has just a 1.018 OPS, but has two doubles and two home runs among his six hits in 20 at-bats at MMP.

After tonight’s series opener, the Tigers and Astros finish things off with two day games, with Jack Flaherty facing old friend Justin Verlander on Saturday and Kenta Maeda taking on Spencer Arrighetti in Sunday’s finale. The Tigers then head East to face the Braves in Atlanta starting Monday, while the Astros remain in the AL Central with a visit to Chicago to face the woebegone White Sox.

TIGERS NEWSLETTER:Why Jack Flaherty should join Tarik Skubal as an AL All-Star

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