Awful Josh Hader pitch choice, Ryan Pressly ruin Astros' turbulent season in Game 2

When the Houston Astros gave Josh Hader the mega-deal he so badly wanted last offseason, it was with an eye towards the playoffs. Some of the most successful postseason teams in recent years have had loaded bullpens that effectively ended the game if their team had a lead after six innings. With Hader in the fold, the Astros added the game's nastiest to Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly at the end of games, which is as formidable a trio as you'll find in all of baseball.

At least, that was the plan.

For the most part, Hader did what the Astros were paying him to do. In 71 appearances this season, he put together a decent 3.80 ERA with big time strikeout numbers and a handful of duds along the way. Certainly not the best we have seen out of Hader in his career, but he was still a force to be reckoned with at the end of games (plus, he started being willing to throw more than an inning with was nice of him).

Unfortunately, any goodwill that Hader had gained with Astros fans got thrown out the window on Wednesday, as a fastball down the middle to pinch-hitter Andy Ibáñez in the eighth inning with the bases loaded resulted in a bases-clearing double and Houston going home early.

Josh Hader gave up the key knock, but Astros losing Game 2 to Detroit was a team effort

Unironically, this was a fantastic baseball game. Hunter Brown pitched his brains out with nine strikeouts in 5.2 innings while holding Detroit to just a run. The Astros would take the lead in the seventh thanks to some questionable defense and some small ball, but the eighth was a nightmare Astros fans won't forget for a while.

Ryan Pressly came in and very clearly didn't have it. A pair of singles, a walk, and a wild pitch tied the game at 2. Pressly would then walk a batter with two outs, and only then did manager Joe Espada decide to bring in Hader. Hader then proceeded to walk Spencer Torkelson to load the bases, which set the stage for Ibáñez's heroics. Make no mistake, Hader did not fool Ibáñez one bit with that fastball, but a lot of the damage was done well before that. Where was the slider, man? Where was the slider?!

Just like that, the Astros' 2024 season is over. Baseball is a game of inches, and the Tigers clearly outclassed Houston in virtually every way in this series. Sometimes you just have to tip you cap, but this one hurts because just a couple of seemingly small decisions really came back to bite the Astros in the most important game of the season.

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