HOUSTON -- Right-hander Lance McCullers and catcher Juan Centeno made for an unusual battery for the Houston Astros on Tuesday night. But with the red-hot McCullers on the mound and in control, the results weren't unexpected.

McCullers pitched five scoreless innings while Centeno made the most of his debut as the Astros posted a 6-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Minute Maid Park.

Centeno, recalled from Triple-A Fresno on Monday, homered off Tigers right-hander Jordan Zimmermann (4-3) in the fourth and finished 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and two runs. He also made a nifty defensive play for the final out of the seventh as the Tigers (21-23) threatened again after already scoring twice in the inning.

"Awesome," Centeno said of the experience. "Been working hard down there (in the minors) to come back up and try to help the team as much as I can. This is a great group of guys, so I have to do my best in the lineup every day."

McCullers (5-1) departed with a 3-0 lead, but Detroit center fielder Mikie Mahtook, who had the Tigers' lone hit on Monday, hit a two-out, two-strike home run off Astros right-hander Michael Feliz to cut the deficit to 3-2 in the seventh.

The Mahtook blast was just the Tigers' third hit of the series.

The Astros (31-15) got both runs back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a critical error on Tigers reliever Alex Wilson.

With Centeno and Jake Marisnick on base following back-to-back singles, Wilson fielded a comebacker from George Springer, and in an attempt to initiate a double play, fired errantly into center field, allowing Centeno to score.

Marisnick advanced to third on the throw and scored when Josh Reddick followed with a sacrifice fly to right.

"Unfortunately, it was a terrible play on my part, one that should never happen," Wilson said. "I take a lot of pride in being able to field my position, and that one was ugly."

Houston first baseman Yuli Gurriel belted his fourth home run leading off the second inning.

Reddick scored on a Nicholas Castellanos error in the third, and Marisnick went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Zimmermann allowed four runs (two earned), five hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six-plus innings. Detroit surrendered four unearned runs on three errors.

"We had some errors behind (Zimmermann) tonight that hurt us a little bit," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "When you're having trouble scoring runs, it makes it that much more difficult to win a baseball game."

McCullers extended his scoreless innings streak to 22, the longest active stretch in the American League. However, he wasn't the picture of efficiency, lasting less than six innings for the first time in five starts this month.

When McCullers needed 80 pitches to complete four innings, it was clear that his night would end relatively early. McCullers faced just three batters over the minimum in five innings, but the Tigers worked at extending at-bats.

Though McCullers allowed just one hit and two walks, he closed his night with 96 pitches and five strikeouts, including striking out the side in the fourth.

"They have a good lineup; they battle," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "They were just staying in the at-bats enough to extend his pitch count a little bit and make him work. He didn't have an easy inning but he wasn't ever threatened which is rare for a pitcher. If he has to work that hard to get through innings usually he's got some traffic or some damage to control or something is going wrong.

"Lance hung in there and kept throwing strikes and kept changing the pace a little bit. It was a good outing for him, it was just a unique outing for him."

NOTES: Former Tigers CF Anthony Gose made his professional pitching debut on Monday night for Class A Lakeland, allowing one run, one hit and one walk with one strikeout. Gose, who last pitched in high school, logged 372 games in five seasons as a center fielder with Detroit and Toronto before initiating the position change this spring. He faced five batters, touched 99 mph with his fastball and also mixed in a few curveballs and one changeup. ... Astros SS Carlos Correa is battling an illness and was held out of the starting lineup. ... Astros LHP Dallas Keuchel (pinched nerve in neck) and C Brian McCann (concussion) are progressing according to schedule relative to their injuries. Both are eligible to be activated from the disabled list on Saturday, with Keuchel due to make his start in the rotation against the Baltimore Orioles if he is available.