HOUSTON – It looked like another Miguel Cabrera milestone moment might spark something for the Tigers.
Cabrera on Saturday lined a double down the left-field line, scoring a pair of runs in the second inning. It was his 600th career double. Only three players in major league history have accumulated 3,000 hits, 500 home runs and 600 doubles: Hank Aaron, Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera.
Those two runs, though, were all they got and the Astros rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Tigers for the third straight game, 3-2 at Minute Maid Park.
Tigers starter and ace Eduardo Rodriguez made those two runs hold up through seven innings. But in the eighth, against reliever Michael Fulmer, Michael Brantley ripped an RBI triple into the corner in right to tie the score.
Then with two outs, manager AJ Hinch called for an intentional walk to left-handed hitting Yordan Alvarez. Fulmer then walked Yuli Gurriel and Kyle Tucker to bring home the go-ahead run.
It was the first runs Fulmer had allowed in 22 outings.
The Tigers, who have averaged just 2.25 runs over the last 13 games, scratched 11 hits, but they couldn't deliver the blow. They were 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position, leaving nine on the bases.
It was the Tigers' 11th loss in their last 13 games.
Shame to waste Rodriguez's best start in a Tigers uniform.
Relying heavily on his four-seam fastball, sinker and cutter, he breezed through the Astros lineup. The only blemish was a first-pitch change-up that Jose Altuve ambushed and hit into the Crawford boxes above the wall in left field.
Rodriguez struck out eight, getting 12 swings and misses and 17 called strikes.
Left-handed hitters have bedeviled him in his previous starts: 9 for 19 with five doubles and two home runs. The Astros started three lefties against him — Brantley, Alvarez and Tucker. They were a combined 0-for-6 with three walks and three strikeouts.
Rodriguez left after walking Tucker with two outs in the seventh. He was at 99 pitches, 85 of them were fastballs, sinkers and cutters.
Fulmer got the third out in the seventh.
