Live Review: Astros take on Detroit Tigers in AL wild card Game One
Vierling grounds out | Top 1
Valdez has the rosin bag in hand. He’ll face Detroit’s Matt Vierling to start things off.
- Jose Altuve, 1B
- Yordan Alvarez, DH
- Kyle Tucker, RF
- Alex Bregman, 3B
- Yainer Diaz, C
- Jeremy Peña, SS
- Victor Caratini, 1B
- Mauricio Dubón, LF
- Jake Meyers, CF
Ahead of Tuesday’s Game 1 of the American League wild card series, Astros General Manager Dana Brown discussed Alex Bregman’s impending free agency and the framework for negotiations with the third baseman’s agent, Scott Boras.
“Ultimately we want Bregman to stay, he’s done a lot of good things here in the orgaization,” Brown said Tuesday at Minute Maid Park. “I’ve had some conversations with Boras and we’ve talked about meeting up at the end of the season and having some good conversations.
“We’d love for [Bregman] to stay. We hope we can get it done.”
The Houston Astros are back in the playoffs after a wild, uneven regular season that at point saw the team 10 games out of first place in the American League West.
A red-hot second half of the season, however, has changed the calculus for Houston, which clinched its division last week and now enters Game 1 of the American League wild card series as significant favorites against the Detroit Tigers. Astros left-handed ace Framber Valdez will take the mound for Houston on Tuesday. He faces off against likely American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in what could be one of the hottest pitching battles of the 2024 postseason.
Skubal, also a lefty, brings 18 wins and an AL-best 2.39 ERA to Minute Maid Park. The Tigers’ 27-year-old pitching phenom will have to contend with a dangerous Houston lineup bolstered by the return of lefty slugger Yordan Alvarez, who will line up in the two hole for Houston on Tuesday following week-plus absence due to a knee injury. Alvarez ended the season with a team-leading 35 home runs and a mighty .308 batting average.
Houston made other adjustments ahead of Tuesday’s game, the most notable being the exclusion of veteran starting pitcher Justin Verlander from the team’s wild card series roster. The 41-year-old has been on the injured list twice this season, and so far, his performances haven’t measured up to that of a three-time Cy Young Award-winner, posting an 8.10 ERA through 33 1/3 innings across his past seven starts.
First pitch for Game 1 of the AL wild card is slated for 1:32 p.m. CT Tuesday.
