Eduardo Rodriguez-led pitching staff breaks down in Detroit Tigers’ 9-2 loss to Astros

Detroit Tigers left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez turned to left field and watched the ball fly without showing any emotion. A two-run home run from Alex Bregman, immediately following Jose Altuve’s leadoff walk in the fifth inning, was the low-point in his 20th start of the season.

“If you miss over the plate, no matter who’s up there, he’s going to make good contact,” Rodriguez said. “That one was a cutter. I tried to go in on the hands, and I missed over the middle of the plate. He hit it out.”

Rodriguez — the ace of the pitching staff — struggled for the second time in his past three starts. This time, though, the 30-year-old allowed four runs and couldn’t complete the fifth inning.

The Tigers lost, 9-2, to the Houston Astros on Saturday in the second of three games at Comerica Park. The winner of the three-game series will be determined in Sunday’s finale, with the Tigers (59-70) facing Justin Verlander.

Rodriguez navigated his way in and out of jams in the first and second innings.

“He started with a 29-pitch inning, then he settled in a little bit, and then he finished with a 29-pitch inning,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He used up a majority of his pitches in the first and fifth. He stayed pretty fastball-friendly early. They made a couple adjustments and went into attack mode.”

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He threw 29 pitches in the first inning, and despite allowing one run, stranded runners on the corners. Altuve opened the game with a bunt single and scored to put the Astros ahead, 1-0, on Bregman’s double.

Rodriguez needed 19 pitches to get through the second inning and strand the bases loaded. The inning featured a single, hit-by-pitch and walk. Yordan Alvarez popped out to end the threat.

The next six batters were retired by Rodriguez, but all six of them put the ball in play.

“After the long innings, I was trying to locate the pitches right where I wanted and get quick outs,” Rodriguez said. “I wasn’t think about striking people out because I knew I had a lot of pitches already in the first two (innings).”

Poor command caught up to Rodriguez in the fifth inning when he walked Altuve on six pitches. He threw five consecutive cutters for a full count, only to miss the strike zone with a four-seam fastball.

Bregman, a right-handed hitter, made Rodriguez pay by tagging an up-and-in cutter for a two-run home run. The 381-foot homer, in a two-strike count, extended the Astros’ lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning.

“It’s not the makeup of the lineup, it’s the hitters,” Hinch said. “It’s the guys that are hitting that laid off pitches and made him work. I mean, Bregman fouled off cutter after cutter until he got a better one to hit, and he hit it into the seats. … I think the lack of feel for his pitches, in general, was pretty evident.”

Two of the next four batters reached safely. A two-out walk from Yanier Diaz was enough to bring Hinch out of the dugout. He replaced Rodriguez with right-handed reliever Will Vest.

Vest finished the fifth inning, but not before the Astros took a 4-1 advantage on Jose Abreu’s RBI single off a second-pitch slider.

Rodriguez gave up four runs on five hits and four walks with one strikeout in 4⅔ innings, throwing 57 of 97 pitches for strikes. He used 40 four-seam fastballs (42%), 30 cutters (31%), 10 changeups (10%), nine sliders (9%) and seven sinkers (7%).

His 40 four-seam fastballs generated two of his three whiffs and 14 of his 19 called strikes. His 30 cutters weren’t effective, with zero whiffs and three called strikes. His changeup was bad, as well.

“Some fastballs were good on the outside corner, but the changeup wasn’t working at all,” Rodriguez said. “They took advantage of it. If you don’t have that location, you’re going to pay for it.”

Rodriguez has a 3.21 ERA this season.

Bullpen follows suit

The Tigers cut the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Vest, who hasn’t pitched well since his mid-August return from the injured list, failed to keep the deficit at two runs. Back-to-back doubles from Altuve and Bregman with one out in the sixth inning put the Tigers behind by three runs.

“I think he’s got to find a little better feel for his secondary pitch,” Hinch said. “He probably needs a little bit more repetition to get him going a little bit more. Generally, he comes out with pitch execution.”

The Tigers turned to left-handed reliever Andrew Vasquez in search of the final two outs in the sixth inning. Alvarez, the first batter to face Vasquez, ripped a fastball up the middle and into center field.

The ground-ball single scored Bregman for a 6-2 margin.

The Astros loaded the bases on Kyle Tucker’s walk and shortstop Javier Báez’s fielding error, but after a mound visit from pitching coach Chris Fetter, Vasquez survived by inducing an inning-ending groundout.

Both runs in the sixth inning were charged to Vest.

The Astros increased their lead to 9-2 with three runs off right-handed reliever José Cisnero in the eighth inning. Cisnero, who threw 21 pitches, allowed three hits and one walk with one strikeout.

Two runs

While the Astros kept hitting, right-hander Hunter Brown looked sharp against the Tigers — his hometown team — through five innings. The former Wayne State pitcher allowed two runs on four hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.

He threw 52 of 91 pitches for strikes.

“As the innings built, he won some big at-bats with his energy and stuff,” Hinch said. “He’s a good, young pitcher. … The mistakes that he made, we didn’t make him pay enough when game was low scoring.”

The Tigers tied the game, 1-1, in the fourth inning with Parker Meadows‘ two-out single. Kerry Carpenter, who collected a one-out single and stole second base, came around to score.

After the RBI single, Meadows swiped second base for the first steal in his five-game MLB career.

Carson Kelly, the Tigers’ catcher, swung at a first-pitch fastball from Brown for a single in the fifth inning. It marked his first hit with the Tigers — and the 282nd hit of his eight-year MLB career — in his sixth plate appearance.

The single advanced Zach McKinstry, who worked a leadoff walk, to third base. McKinstry scored on Riley Greene’s sacrifice fly for the Tigers’ second and final run, making it 4-2.

The Tigers struck out 15 times and finished 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Carpenter and Meadows had two-hit performances.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.