CINCINNATI – Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal turned his back on the batter and screamed.
Skubal responded similarly when he gave up a one-run lead by stranding Austin Winns with a runner at second base in the seventh inning with one of his trademark changeups.
It was his career-high 13th strikeout.
“The goal for me was to get as many innings as I could, and it ended up being seven,” Skubal said. “That’s where the focus was. Strikeouts happen, and that’s a good thing, but I’m more proud of seven.” From.”
Skubal, named an American League All-Star for the first time in his career, threw seven innings of one-ball shutout to anchor the Tigers in a 5-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Sunday’s series finale at Great American Ball Park. 5-5 record on three-game sweep and 10-game road trip.
The Tigers (42–48) won a series for the first time since winning the season-opening series against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in late March.
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Manager AJ Hinch said, “We’ve been away from home for a long time and played a lot of different games, but the last three games have been really fun and really neat and really good from the group. Almost everyone has done that.” Have done.” Contributed in the last few games, it’s fun to win.”
Skubal lowered his ERA to 2.37 in 18 starts with Sunday’s 93-pitch masterpiece. The 27-year-old player did not allow the Reds to score a single run till his last innings.
He was almost untouchable.
“We can maintain dominance,” Hinch said. “That’s always a nice word. We’re going home, and we want to end this road trip on a high note and get to the next two series (before the All-Star break), and that goes out. And dominates. He was pretty much locked in from the beginning.”
The Reds managed only three hits in seven innings against him, with no walks. Three hits: Vince’s double in the third inning, Will Benson’s single in the sixth inning and Jamar Candelario’s double in the seventh inning.
Scoble generated 23 whiffs on 51 swings – a 45.1% whiff rate – with 12 changeups, five fastballs and six sliders. The Reds missed 12 of their 18 swings on Skubal’s changeup, leaving only two in the game.
“He kept it down in the zone,” catcher Jake Rogers said of Skubal’s changeup. “He got a lot of soft contact early, so we kept going at that. He threw a lot of curveballs early in the count, which kept them thinking about the second pitch, and I think that helped the changeup even more.” “
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Skubal struck out 15 of 23 batters on the first pitch.
He needed only 76 pitches to complete the first six innings before throwing 17 pitches in the seventh inning – spurred by six pitches in the first inning.
“I just stayed aggressive,” said Skubal, who credited Rogers with improving his pitches. “The visuals he was able to give me made my job a lot easier. All I had to worry about was executing a pitch. He felt back there.”
The only trouble occurred in the seventh, when Candelario slapped an up-and-away fastball down the right field line. The next batter, Spencer Steere, reached safely due to a fielding error by shortstop Zach McKinstry on what should have been a routine groundout. Then, a wild pitch advanced both runners.
Candelario scored against McKinstry on Noelvi Marte’s groundout to cut the Tigers’ lead to 2–1. But Skubal refused to lose the lead with back-to-back outs, including an emotional strikeout of Winans. He also yelled after inning-ending strikeouts in the third and sixth innings.
It was one of the best starts in Skubal’s five-year MLB career.
“He finished some innings with some screams,” Hinch said. “I love that. It’s something we love because they’re all coming to big moments, and they’re all authentic. You can’t just yell and scream for no reason. She’s into it.”
Skubal joined 1968 World Series MVP Mickey Lolich, who pitched for the Tigers from 1963–75, as the only players in franchise history to have 13 strikeouts, zero walks and not allow more than one run.
“He scored 29 before me,” Skubal said. “It’s great.”
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Tarik Skubal’s run support
The Tigers scored one run in the fourth inning, one run in the seventh inning and three runs in the eighth inning. Reds right-hander Graham Ashcraft allowed one run on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 4⅔ innings.
McKinstry finished 2-for-4 with three RBI. He gave up an RBI single for a 1–0 lead in the fourth inning and a two-run home run for a 4–1 lead in the eighth inning.
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Colt Keith and Parker Meadows drove in the other two runs with RBI singles in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively.
Meadows – in his third game since being recalled from Triple-A Toledo – suffered a right hamstring injury in the eighth inning after being thrown out trying to steal second base, following an RBI single for a 5–1 lead. Left the game.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow @EvanPetzold,
Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And check out all of our podcasts and the Daily Voice Briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
Next: Guardian
To match: Tigers (42-48) vs. Cleveland (56-32).
First pitch: Monday at 6:40 pm; Comerica Park.
TV/Radio: Bailey Sports Detroit, FS1; WXYT-FM (97.1).
Probable Pitchers: Tigers — RHP Jack Flaherty (5-5, 3.24 ERA); the guardians -RHP Gavin Williams (0-1, 11.25).
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