Tigers  4    Astros  5

Detroit Tigers (41-31) at Houston Astros (33-37), 8:05 p.m.

Sports Network | June 26, 2009

(Sports Network) - The Detroit Tigers matched a season high in wins last night with their seventh in a row and will take their success to the road tonight, when they kick off a nine-game trek with the first of three straight meetings against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Detroit is unbeaten over its last seven games following a four-game losing streak and is coming off Thursday's 6-5 triumph over the Chicago Cubs at Comerica Park. Magglio Ordonez and Ramon Santiago each belted two-run homers, while Ryan Raburn ended with three hits and a pair of RBI for the AL Central- leading Tigers, who have completed sweeps of Milwaukee and Chicago. Ordonez homered for the first time since late April, as the Tigers remained five games ahead of Minnesota in the division standings.

Starting pitcher Armando Galarraga recorded the win and allowed four runs on six hits over six innings. He struck out five batters and issued one walk, while Bobby Seay and Brandon Lyon each threw an inning of relief. Fernando Rodney had a shaky ninth, allowing a run on two hits, but managed to post his 16th save of the season.

"I felt good out there today," said Galarraga. "All the guys kept coming up to me and giving me encouragement and that was nice."

Galarraga helped the Tigers to seven straight wins for the first since May 15-22 this season. Detroit will also visit Oakland and Minnesota on the current road swing.

Justin Verlander will handle pitching duties for Jim Leyland's club Friday and is 8-1 in his last 12 starts, with the club going 9-3 over that stretch. He previously pitched on June 21 versus Milwaukee in a 3-2 win and earned the victory by holding the Brewers to two runs and five hits over 7 2/3 innings. Verlander also struck out eight batters to improve to 8-3 with a 3.31 ERA.

The hard-throwing right-hander rebounded from a rough loss on June 16, when he was tagged for five runs in an 11-2 setback at St. Louis. Verlander, who has a 4-3 record and a 4.87 ERA in nine away starts in 2009, is holding the opposition to a mediocre .230 batting average.

Verlander faced Houston for the first time in his career on June 28, 2006, when he tossed eight shutout innings of three-hit ball in a 5-0 victory. He also fanned seven and did not walk a batter.

Houston salvaged the finale of a three-game set versus the Kansas City Royals with Thursday's 5-4 win in the series finale. Lance Berkman clubbed a pair of two-run homers and reached the 1,000 RBI mark in his career for the Astros, who have won three of their last five games. Berkman had three hits and Kaz Matsui was credited with the other RBI in the win.

"I felt pretty good left-handed for awhile now. Results wise, it's definitely the best day I've had this year," the switch-hitting Berkman said. "I didn't even hit the ball that great. First homer, I hit that ball pretty well, second homer I didn't hit it quite as good, but I'll take it."

Astros starter Brian Moehler worked five innings, but earned a no-decision, yielding four runs -- one earned -- on five hits. Wesley Wright posted the win after tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Jose Valverde picked up his sixth save of the season with a perfect ninth.

Wandy Rodriguez will shoot for back-to-back wins when he toes the rubber tonight for Houston, which is five games off the lead in the NL Central. Rodriguez was 0-4 in five starts before beating Minnesota the last time out on June 21, when he tossed seven innings of one-run, two-hit ball with eight strikeouts and three walks in a 4-1 triumph.

Rodriguez evened his 2009 mark at 6-6 and lowered his earned run average to 3.18 in 15 starts this season. The lefty, who is 3-2 in seven home starts in 2009, lost his first appearance versus Detroit back on June 26, 2006. In the 10-4 loss to the Tigers, Rodriguez was pounded for seven runs and 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings of work.

Detroit and Houston are meeting for the first time since the Tigers swept a three-game home series versus the Astros from June 26-28, 2006. The Tigers, who are 122-104 all-time against the National League, have won five of the past six matchups between the clubs.

The Astros own a 98-99 mark in interleague play.