HOUSTON – How in the world did the Detroit Tigers team we saw in Cleveland last weekend just go into Houston and sweep the first-place (well, not anymore) Astros?
The way the Tigers played in Cleveland had me dreading that there were 153 more games to watch this offense. They scored just six runs on 13 hits in three games, while the Indians scored 20 times.
Recommended Videos
REMEMBER THIS?: Hopefully you didn’t spend your entire weekend watching the Tigers
After watching THAT and then seeing the 6-3 Astros next on the schedule, it definitely felt like this was the part of the season where the Tigers start to slide sharply downhill.
Instead, they went to Houston and won all three games!
The offense was clicking, with 20 runs on 31 hits in just three games. Jeimer Candelario got on base 10 times. Wilson Ramos (briefly) took the MLB lead in home runs. Renato Nunez hit a pair of bombs.
Akil Baddoo racked up five hits, including two home runs and two doubles, to continue the magical start to the season.
After Tuesday’s game, the Tigers actually led the entire American League in home runs for the season. How crazy is that?
Meanwhile, Casey Mize threw seven shutout innings to get his first MLB win, and it came against potential Hall of Famer Zack Greinke.
RELATED (sort of): Former CMU baseball star raking for defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers
Matt Boyd shut down the Astros for 6.2 innings, allowing just one run for his third excellent start in a row.
Michael Fulmer returned to the starting rotation and allowed just one two-run homer in five innings. He picked up his first win since 2018.
What. A. Series.
Now, with their record back to .500, the Tigers have to travel to Oakland -- where dreams go to die. These West Coast trips to the Coliseum have not been fun for the Tigers in the past, even when they were World Series contenders.
But no matter what happens, at least the Tigers -- and A.J. Hinch, for that matter -- got to go into Houston and pick apart one of the best teams in the league, dominating in all phases of the game.
The Tigers haven’t had many sweeps the last five years, especially on the road against good teams. For at least three days, watching this team was fun again.