Houston Astros vs. Detroit Tigers FREE WAtch LIve Streaming Major League Baseball Online from Comerica Park Monday at 7:08 PM ET
Max Scherzer tries to win a fourth consecutive start as the surging Tigers host the Astros in the first of four Monday night.
Detroit (17-9) returns home after closing a 6-1 road trip with five straight wins. The Tigers, who hit .313 during their trek, outscored Kansas City 26-8 during a three-game sweep over the weekend.
Torii Hunter had three hits and three RBIs while Justin Verlander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning to win his fourth straight decision.
"There's 29 other managers that would like to be able to do that," manager Brad Ausmus said of starting Verlander and Scherzer on consecutive days.
Scherzer (3-1, 2.08 ERA) has posted a 1.42 ERA while striking out 26 in 19 innings during his winning streak. The right-hander beat the White Sox for the second straight outing Wednesday, scattering four hits over six scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory.
Scherzer struck out seven to become the first Tigers pitcher to record at least seven in each of his first six starts.
"He's always tough. You get some guys on, you get opportunities and that's when good pitchers really show their stuff. He did that today," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "We at least got him a high pitch count and he couldn't get eight or nine innings. But, he's just tough."
Scherzer went 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two matchups against Houston last year. He threw eight innings of one-run ball in a 17-2 road victory May 4, then yielded five runs over seven innings in a 7-5 home defeat 11 days later.
Houston (10-21) is looking to get on track after suffering its fourth loss in five games, 8-7 to Seattle on Sunday. The Astros lost despite collecting 11 hits for the third straight contest and scoring at least five runs for the sixth time in eight games.
Shortstop Jonathan Villar, who homered for the second consecutive day, is batting .400 with eight extra-base hits over the last nine games.
Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera is batting .386 with a homer and 12 RBIs during a 10-game hitting streak. He went 11 for 29 with three homers and eight RBIs as Detroit took six of seven from Houston last season.
The game will be live streaming online atwww.time4tv.com/2011/09/mlb-network.php
