DETROIT -- Brandon Barnes stood in centre field and felt the wind blowing out a bit -- an ominous sign when Miguel Cabrera is at the plate with the bases loaded and two out in the ninth inning. Sure enough, Cabrera lifted a deep flyball to right-centre, forcing Barnes to race over with the game on the line. "I just knew if he hit it out there, Id have to get a good bead on it," Barnes said. "Just try to get under it and not stop until the catch was made." Barnes caught Cabreras drive against the wall for the final out, and the Houston Astros avoided a season sweep against the Detroit Tigers with a 7-5 victory Wednesday. Carlos Corporan hit a tiebreaking double in the top of the ninth for the Astros, who lost their first six meetings with the Tigers by a combined 50-12. Houston barely held on in this one after scoring two runs in the ninth to take the lead. Jose Veras pitched the ninth for his fifth save in seven chances, but he walked two, and when he hit Torii Hunter with an 0-2 pitch, the bases were loaded with two out and Cabrera coming up. The Triple Crown winner came a few feet from a grand slam, but Barnes -- who entered as a pinch-runner in the top of the inning and stayed in to play centre -- had enough room to run it down and make the catch while jumping back a bit into the out-of-town scoreboard. The previous night, Detroits Andy Dirks hit a double to almost that same spot. Houston right-hander Lucas Harrell expressed frustration that the ball wasnt caught, and manager Bo Porter met with Harrell before Wednesdays game to discuss the teams philosophy on defensive shifts. Barnes said he was playing a bit deep for Cabrera, but wasnt too far to either side. "I was pretty straight up," Barnes said. "I mean, he can hit the ball anywhere." Corporan and J.D. Martinez homered for Houston, and Avisail Garcia went deep for the Tigers. Detroits Al Alburquerque (0-1) walked Martinez starting the ninth, and manager Jim Leyland pulled him. "Its depressing," Leyland said. "If I had seen any signs that he was going to throw the ball over the plate, I would have left him in. I didnt really want (Phil) Coke against a switch-hitter." Coke, a left-hander, came on and allowed Corporans double to the gap in left-centre. Matt Dominguez added a sacrifice fly. Alburquerque has struck out 26 in 14 1-3 innings this year, but hes also walked 13 and thrown six wild pitches. "Maybe not getting enough work -- I dont know the answer," Leyland said. "Hes struggling with his control." Hector Ambriz (1-2) got the win as Houston stopped a six-game losing streak. "Sometimes we pitch good but we dont hit. Sometimes we hit but we dont pitch good. Sometimes we put it together like today," Corporan said. "Weve been scoring some runs. It takes things like this to turn around some things." The Astros are without standout second baseman Jose Altuve, on the bereavement list following the death of his grandmother. The 21-year-old Garcia, playing centre field because of Austin Jacksons hamstring injury, hit his first major league homer in the second, a three-run shot to left-centre that gave the Tigers a 4-1 lead. Detroit starter Max Scherzer couldnt hold it. He allowed a double to Jake Elmore to start the fourth, then balked him to third. Carlos Pena hit a run-scoring single, and after a walk to Chris Carter, Martinez hit his third homer of the year, a no-doubter to left-centre that landed near Willie Hortons retired No. 23 on the brick facade well behind the visiting bullpen at Comerica Park. The three-run shot put the Astros ahead 5-4. Scherzer allowed five runs and five hits in seven innings. He struck out seven and walked three. Houston starter Dallas Keuchel allowed five runs -- four earned -- and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings. Detroit tied it at 5 with an unearned run in the sixth. With two out, shortstop Marwin Gonzalez misplayed Victor Martinezs grounder for an error. Jhonny Peralta followed with a single, and Matt Tuiasosopo tied it with a single. Corporan opened the scoring with a second-inning solo homer. The Tigers tied it in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Brayan Pena, and Garcia followed with his home run. NOTES: Keuchel and Detroit reliever Drew Smyly were roommates while playing college baseball at Arkansas. ... The Astros have Thursday off. Detroit sends ace Justin Verlander (4-3) to the mound at Texas in a terrific pitching matchup against Yu Darvish (6-1) of the Rangers. Steve Carlton Cardinals Jersey . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Jedd Gyorko Cardinals Jersey . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. http://www.authenticcardinalspro.com/cardinals-ken-boyer-jersey/ . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. Miles Mikolas Cardinals Jersey . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Whitey Herzog Jersey . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Bob Huggins joined some elite company.No. 12 West Virginia used a 37-4 first half run to cruise to a 112-67 victory over UMKC, Huggins his 800th career win.Huggins is the 10th head coach to reach 800 wins and only the third to achieve that milestone at his alma mater, the others being Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and Adolph Rupp at Kentucky.Those are big names, Huggins said. Those are guys that I said when I first got to go to the Final Four, Id sit in the lobby all day and all night and just watch them. Id watch how they interacted with people and just sat there thinking that one day I want to be like that. One day, I want to be one of them.Huggins is the second college basketball coach to achieve the 800-win milestone this week as former Villanova coach Rollie Massimino did it this week as Keiser defeated Trinity Baptist 77-47 on Wednesday.Boeheim along with former WVU player and Golden State Warriors executive board member Jerry West, Kentucky head coach John Calipari, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino and countless former Cincinnati and WVU players were among those to send their congratulations in a postgame ceremony.It was kind of neat seeing all of those former players and all the people who were more a part of it (800 wins) than I am because I didnt score a goal in any of the 800, Huggins said.Huggins was presented with a jersey with the number 800 printed on it by West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons following the game.Thank you Shane, but I dont think I couldve fit into this even when I played, Huggins said.Among Huggins 800 wins are two Final Four appearances (1992 with Cincinnati and 2010 with West Virginia), four Elite Eight appearances, seven Sweet 16 appearances and 10 conference championships.Eight-hundred wins. How do you pick one? Huggins answered when asked for his favorite win. I cant do it. I like beating Cal (John Calipari) but thats way more than one.Nathan Adrian led seven players in double figures for the Mountaineers (9-1)) with 13 points.dddddddddddd Daxter Miles Jr. and Esa Ahmad had 12 points each. Elijah Macon led West Virginia with seven rebounds and Jevon Carter had six assists.He has a lot of pride in this state and a lot of pride for the game of basketball so you really cant hide that, Adrian said when asked of Huggins emotions after the game.The win was the highest scoring output for the Mountaineers this season.LaVell Boyd led the Kangaroos (7-6) with 14 points.The 45-point defeat is the worst for UMKC this season beating their 43-point defeat at Kansas earlier this month.BIG PICTUREUMKC has one major trip left on its schedule as they hit the road to take on Mississippi State on Dec. 29, which is sandwiched between a couple of home games. The Kangaroos start WAC play at home against New Mexico State on Jan. 5.West Virginia has looked impressive in just about all facets of the game since their upset of then-No. 6 Virginia on Dec. 3. The Mountaineers have a couple more games in the stat-padding portion of their schedule before starting Big 12 play at Oklahoma State on Dec. 30.PRESS VIRGINIAThe Mountaineers scored 38 points off 27 UMKC turnovers. West Virginia forces an average of 26.1 turnovers per game.WITNESSING HISTORYThis is the second time the Kangaroos have played in a milestone game this season. Their loss to Kansas, 105-62, on Dec. 6 was Jayhawks coach Bill Selfs 600th career win.PLAYING ONE `ROO SHORTUMKC dismissed senior guard and second-leading scorer Martez Harrison earlier in the week. Harrison had been suspended since late November due to an investigation by the schools Title IX office. He averaged 16.5 points per game during the first six games of the season.UP NEXTUMKC hosts UT Martin on Tuesday night.West Virginia hosts Radford on Tuesday night.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. ' ' '