Tigers 5, Guardians 0: Complete game dominance from Tarik Skubal

Tarik Skubal fired a complete game shutout in under 100 pitches to break the Guardians’ spell over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. Zach McKinstry’s two-run homer provided all the offense they’d need as the best pitcher in the American League mowed through the Guardians lineup for nine straight innings. It was the first Maddux in MLB history with 13 strikeouts in an absolutely dominant display of strike-throwing and power stuff.

The 5-0 victory ended the Tigers longest losing streak of the season at three games.

Needing a win, the Tigers were in good shape on Sunday. Tarik Skubal came out and established a new tone compared to the first three games of the series. A 10-pitch first inning saw a pair of strikeouts and a first pitch pop-up off the bat of Jose Ramirez.

Facing the Guardians’ Logan Allen, Gleyber Torres drew a one out walk in the bottom of the first, but Andy Ibáñez struck out and Torres was cut down trying to steal second.

Skubal racked up three quick outs on balls in the play, and the Tigers got a one-out double from Spencer Torkelson. Again the hits didn’t follow and Torkelson was stranded as well.

Skubal retired them in order in the third, again using a minimum of pitches for quick quick outs on balls in play. The big lefty wasn’t coming out pumping 100 mph either. He was 96-98 mph for the most part, perhaps learning to save a little for later. What was remarkable was the sheer volume of strikes. Skubal just attacked with both fastball types and his changeup, barely turning to the slider or curveball against the Guardians.

The Guardians first 15 hitters would go down in order, and murmurings of a no-hit watch began in the middle innings.

Meanwhile the Tigers finally put up some runs. Justyn-Henry Malloy led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. Dillon Dingler lined out, but Zach McKinstry stepped up and took Logan Allen deep to right field for his third home run. 2-0 Tigers.

Javier Báez kept things going by pulling a double down the left field line. Matt Vierling flew out for the second out of the inning, but Gleyber Torres came through by ripping an RBI double to left to make it 3-0 Tigers. Ibáñez singled in Torres, taking second as the Guardians failed to cut off the throw home. A soft tapper from Riley Greene was thrown away by Allen as Ibáñez raced around to score. 5-0 Tigers.

Jakob Junis took over from Allen and hit Spencer Torkelson, but Trey Sweeney pinch-hit for Malloy and popped out to finally end the inning.

Gifted some real run support, Tarik Skubal was off to the races. He struck out Lane Thomas, which no doubt felt good, to begin a 1-2-3 top of the fifth. Finally, Wil Wilson opened the sixth inning with a double to break Skubal’s spell, or at least slightly weaken it. Skubal punched out Austin Hedges, hit Nolan Jones, and then wrapped the inning with a double play ball off the bat of Angel Martinez.

The Tigers went in order in the bottom of the sixth, as Junis was quite effective.

In the seventh, Jose Ramirez landed a one-out single, but the Skoobs was not having it on this day. He punched out Thomas and Manzardo with emphasis, touching 101.7 mph to finish Manzardo. It was just a masterclass all game long, and now Skubal was rearing back all the way and unleashing the full power of his left arm.

In the bottom of the seventh, Nic Enright took over from Jakob Junis. Enright got Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson, but with two outs the Tigers got to work expanding that lead. Trey Sweeney singled up the middle, and Dillon Dingler pulled a ground ball to third baseman Will Wilson. Wilson made a nice play on the ball but threw a bit wildly to first and Kyle Manzardo couldn’t hang onto it. Unfortunately McKinstry flew out to center and it didn’t matter.

Skubal reached the eighth inning having used just 72 pitches. He attacked the strike zone with complete abandon throughout this game and the Guardians were in desperation mode from the early innings. He struck out Noel and Austin Hedges to make it 11 strikeouts on the day, and he did not get the handshake as he returned to the dugout at just 85 pitches on the outing.

By this point, the Roku broadcast with Dan Dickerson and Guardians analyst Rick Manning was in full on giddy mode. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Dickerson have more fun calling a game. From Manning’s perspective, the Guardians had the series already, and so the whole booth sat back and enjoyed watching the best pitcher in the game in peak form.

The Tigers went in order in the bottom of the eighth, and really they were just clearing the stage for the defending AL Cy Young winner. The crowd went nuts when he took the mound in the ninth, and the energy level from Skubal himself was off the charts as well.

Nolan Jones went down swinging as the stadium volume erupted. Martinez grounded out, and the crowd, on its feet throughout the inning peaked out to a degree that Skubal struggled to hear the Pitch Com. What to throw? The answer was fastball. Big fastballs.

Gabriel Arias saw 99.7 mph for strike one, and then swung over a changeup. For his 94th pitch of the game, Skubal reached back for 102.6 mph, registering at 103 mph on the broadcast velocity tracker. Arias whiffed wildly, and Tarik Skubal’s first complete game was in the books.

13 strikeouts, 26 whiffs, 94 pitches of mastery for Skubal. He faced 29 hitters, two over the minimum. When the Tigers needed a stopper, they had the best on their side to break their first three-game losing streak of the season since the opening series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The lefty took it upon himself in this one, embraced the challenge, and got a little bit of vengeance on the team that knocked the Tigers out of the playoffs last October.

Final: Tigers 5, Guardians 0