Jose Altuve has been coming in clutch for the Houston Astros during the past few seasons, but the late inning winners mean more for the Astros than ever before.
Houston is 64-54, which is good for 3.5 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels in the American League West. The last time the Astros made the playoffs was in 2005, but with all the walk-off's and newly added player, they are on track to make the playoffs this season.
"Every time you do something for your team and you win you're going to feel good. You're going to enjoy it," Altuve said. "Especially in the moment that we're living right now where we're in first place and we have to win."
With two outs in the ninth inning, Altuve hit an RBI single off Alex Wilson to drive in Jake Marisnick and win 6-5 over the Detroit Tigers.
Marisnick tripled off Tom Gorzelanny, who took the loss and is now 1-2 on the season, with two outs in the ninth. Wilson gave up the single to Altuve that sent the Tigers packing.
"He's the right guy for the right spot and we have a lot of confidence when he steps to the plate when guys are in scoring position to give us a chance to win the game and he always delivers," said American League Rookie of the Year candidate Carlos Correa.
Will Harris pitched two innings of work and only gave up one run (zero earned runs) on two hits and a walk. Harris got his fifth win of the season.
Former American League Most Valuable Player Miguel Cabrera was back in top form. He wet 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBI and two walks in the loss to Houston.
"He looks good," manager Brad Ausmus said. "I think his timing's still off every now and then but he certainly took some good swings the last two days."
Mike Fiers took the start for Houston and was dominant. He went 5.1 innings, which was not a ton, but he did not give up any earned runs. The righty, who threw 96 pitches, gave up two runs because of an error. Fiers, 30, struck out five and lowered himself to a 3.71 ERA.
Colby Rasmus homered twice during the game against the Tigers, once in the second to get the Astros on the board and once in the third to end a hot scoring spell for Houston. After the third, Houston had a 5-2 lead over Detroit thanks to the power of Rasmus. It was his first multi-homer game since 2012.
The Tigers comeback started in the seventh inning with Miggy's two-run shot and continued into the eighth inning with Tyler Collins game-tying RBI single to right center.
Making his fifth career start, Matt Boyd went 5.0 innings strong and gave up five runs on six hits and three walks. The lefty struck out four and has continued to lower his ERA to 7.50 with both Detroit and the Toronto Blue Jays. The 24-year-old has a 4.67 ERA with just the Tigers over three starts this season.