Tigers bullpen collapses late again in extra innings loss to Astros

Detroit — The crowd at Comerica Park didn’t even wait to see the ball land in the left-field stands before getting up and starting to file out late on Sunday afternoon as the Detroit Tigers blew another lead and lost another game to the Houston Astros in two days.

This time, a Detroit lead entering the seventh inning evaporated on two home run swings, aided by a poorly timed error, before the Astros pulled away in the top of the 10th inning with an RBI single for a one-run lead and then a Christian Walker three-run blast off Kenley Jansen.

That was the cue for the crowd to leave.

And that’s just been the story of 2026 for Detroit (35-49) as it fell, 7-5, to Houston (41-44) on Sunday in 10 innings to drop three out of four games in the series. It’s another game where a lot went well, but not enough to overcome the various shortcomings of this team to date: A lack of offensive firepower, occasionally shoddy defense and, lately, bullpen arms faltering in leverage situations. Detroit is now 1-6 in extra inning games in 2026.

Detroit even had a chance to walk off the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, with a series of walks loading the bases for Riley Greene. He struck out on four pitches.

And might not have even been such a leverage situation for Detroit in the late innings had the bullpen kept the ball in the ballpark. After Will Vest had his meltdown on Saturday, it was Tyler Holton and Kyle Finnegan together who coughed up the lead for Detroit on Sunday.

And Detroit might not have even been in that position if the defense picked up Holton in the seventh.

The lefty reliever had come on in the sixth and delivered a 1-2-3 inning before quickly getting the first two outs in the seventh. He seemed like he had the third out secured when Jake Meyers chopped a ground ball to Kevin McGonigle deep at third.

But McGonigle’s throw to Colt Keith at first base was a bit soft and a shade up the line. Keith couldn’t corral it and Meyers scampered to second. Keith got charged with the error.

The No. 9 hitter Raynel Delgado stepped in and smashed a two-run shot to right field that changed the complexion of the game — one where Detroit could’ve been back in the dugout after another 1-2-3 inning, still leading 3-0. Instead, it was 3-2.

Holton gave way to Finnegan, who got out of that inning but then gave up a lead off home run to Isaac Paredes in the eighth that tied the game, 3-3.

To boot, the late collapse from the bullpen meant Detroit failed to capitalize on a largely sterling start for Jack Flaherty on the mound in his first outing off the injured list.

Sunday against the Astros, Flaherty went five innings, struck out nine, walked three and gave up just two hits.

The Astros finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position against Flaherty and he produced plenty of whiffs, 16 in total, on 94 pitches. That’s 17 percent of his pitches producing a swing and miss. And Flaherty had his stuff on from the first batter he faced, as he struck out Jeremy Peña on a filthy breaking pitch to begin proceedings.

He’d go on to strikeout Peña three times, one of the main victims as Flaherty racked up six strikeouts in his first three innings of work, only allowing one hit.

But that hit could’ve cost him, as Meyers hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning and advanced to third on a passed ball. Flaherty didn’t have much margin to work with with no outs. He struck out the next two batters, then got a popout from the highly-dangerous Yordan Alvarez in a 3-1 count to end the threat.

Flaherty found himself in more trouble the very next inning, this time as walks, his season-long bugaboo, reared their head.

He’d walked Alvarez with the bases empty in the first inning, a defensible outcome against such a dangerous hitter. But with a runner on first and one out in the fifth inning, Flaherty gave up a walk, got a line out to right, then walked another batter to load the bases with two outs.

It’s the sort of situation that has blown up on Flaherty time and again this year, where one swing undoes otherwise quality work. Not on Sunday, as he got Meyers going down swinging to end the threat. He’d put the Astros down in order in the fifth, ending his day by getting Alvarez to watch a fastball on the bottom rail of the strike zone for strike three.

And with Flaherty mowing down the Astros offense, Zach McKinstry provided the jolt for Detroit to get in the driver’s seat.

Kerry Carpenter led off the second inning with a single, bringing up McKinstry against Hunter Brown, a St. Clair Shores native and one of the best pitchers in the AL, who made the start for Houston.

Brown left a four seamer up and down the middle of the plate on his second pitch to McKinstry and the Tigers’ utility man punished the mistake with a two-run home run out to right field.

Detroit rode that 2-0 lead for much of the afternoon until Kevin McGonigle scored from second on an error in the fifth inning as Astros second baseman Raynel Delgado booted a ground ball off Riley Greene’s bat.

It seemed like it would be enough offense with Flaherty chugging along and Detroit having its choice of bullpen arms available.

But it turns out three runs wouldn’t cut it as for the second day in a row, Detroit’s bullpen squandered a lead. And as has been the case for most of this season, once extra innings started, the Tigers failed to get over the hump.

Even if Spencer Torkelson‘s two-run home run made the final result look a bit better, it’s a bitter end to this series.