The Detroit Tigers gave up a lead in the later innings to the Astros for the second straight night and a ninth-inning rally came up short in Houston.

The Astros tagged Reese Olson for three runs in the sixth inning and tacked on three runs off Will Vest in the seventh, turning a two-run Detroit lead into a four-run deficit. The Tigers tried to rally late, but came up short in a 6-4 loss to the Astros.

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The Tigers (18-12) put baserunners on in the eighth inning, but couldn’t score. They then cut the Astros’ lead to two with a two-out, two-run home run from Gleyber Torres in the ninth inning. Josh Hader got Zach McKinstry to strike out in the next at-bat to end the game.

In the first inning, Kerry Carpenter hit a leadoff home run, his seventh of the season, and put the Tigers ahead on the first at-bat of the game. Detroit pushed the lead to 2-0 in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Torres.

But the Astros racked up seven hits and four walks — scoring six runs across the sixth and seventh innings — to seize control and win a second straight over the Tigers. It was déjà vu: In the series opener, the Astros took the lead in the sixth inning on a Jose Altuve home run and added four insurance runs in the seventh inning.

“We’ve had a couple of tough innings and they have come back to haunt us,” manager A.J. Hinch told reporters on the FanDuel Sports Network Detroit postgame show. “Where they put pretty good at-bats together back-to-back and then had somebody deliver the big punch. That’s kind of been the difference so far in these games.”

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Olson holds off Astros until 6th

Olson kept the Astros off balance with his offspeed arsenal for the first five innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth.

He started out the inning by striking out Jeremy Peña on a changeup. He then walked Altuve and Isaac Paredes, putting two runners on with two outs. Christian Walker drove in Altuve with a long double to left center field, driving Olson out of the game. Will Vest replaced him, but could not strand the inherited runner after a two-RBI single from Yainer Diaz.

“If I don’t walk those two guys in the last inning, we probably win and we’re all walking away a little bit happier,” Olson told reporters in Houston. “In terms of how I’m feeling, how everything is moving, how I’m commanding everything — it’s great. But obviously, those walks hurt us tonight.”

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Olson gave up four hits, three walks and three earned runs with seven strikeouts over 5⅔ innings. He struck out at least one batter in each inning he pitched with his three-pitch offspeed mix.

He induced 18 swings and misses, eight with his changeup, six with his slider and four with his curveball. Olson used his sinker, which he threw 38 times, to set up Houston. But the command went wayward in the sixth inning with two walks on his way to giving up three runs.

“There were times during this outing where he had everything,” Hinch told reporters. “He lost a little bit of control of the strike zone late, which he had a ton early. And for whatever reason, he stopped executing some pitches.”

Olson is 3-2 with his ERA rising to 3.55 over six starts.

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Vest stayed in to pitch the seventh and put two runners on with no outs. He nearly escaped the trouble with a double play, but surrendered an RBI single to Yordan Alvarez. Paredes then hit a RBI triple off Vest and Chase Lee gave up a single, allowing the inherited runner to score and push the Astros’ lead to four.

Shoe shine blast

Carpenter’s leadoff home run almost never happened.

In a 1-2 count, Ryan Gusto threw a backfoot slider to Carpenter, and the pitch broke all the way to Carpenter’s back foot and hit him in the toe. Carpenter started taking off his gear to head to first base, but the home plate umpire did not see it hit Carpenter and ruled it a ball.

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“I’m not afraid to face that guy, I was just like it hit my foot,” Carpenter told reporters in Houston. “I am glad they didn’t get the view in time.”

The Tigers opted not to challenge the call during the first plate appearance of the game, keeping Carpenter in the batter’s box. Gusto threw a high fastball on the next pitch, and Carpenter got all of it for a 398-foot home run to right field.

“It hit my foot for sure but you never know if the camera can see that,” Carpenter told reporters.