Andy Ibáñez was a below-average hitter this year who also was worse than the league against fastballs. Josh Hader throws one of the best fastballs in the game. The Tigers utilityman bested the Astros’ star closer in the eighth inning anyway, hitting a double off a 98 mph sinker on a 1-and-2 count to clear the loaded bases and put Detroit into the next round of the playoffs with a 5-2 win in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series.
The Tigers will face the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series. Advertisement “When he’s throwing it to the top-half of the zone, it’s really good,” Astros pitching coach Josh Miller had said of Hader’s fastball, which is one of the more dominant and deceptive in the game. “When he’s throwing it down, it gives guys a chance.
” The pitch that yielded the double that essentially ended Houston’s season was down in the zone. That obscured a great outing from Astros starter Hunter Brown , who limited the Tigers to one run — a Parker Meadows homer — through 5 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts. In the seventh, the Astros scraped together their first lead of the series with a hit batter, two singles and some smart, aggressive base running by Jeremy Peña .
But in the eighth, everything unraveled for their bullpen, as Ryan Pressly and Hader combined to give up two singles, two walks, a wild pitch, and Ibáñez’s big double. “Pitching chaos the rest of this week” is what Tigers manager A.J.
Hinch promised behind .
