Riding the wave of an improbable September rebound that secured the franchise’s first postseason berth in a decade, the Detroit Tigers earned another memorable win on Tuesday, with a 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the American League Wild-Card Series.

The Tigers, with a roster full of rookies who barely knew what it meant to be playing at this point in the calendar, appeared to be significant underdogs when they arrived in Houston to face a team that has become synonymous with postseason play. Baseball has become. But in this ridiculously one-sided matchup given October’s experience, star left-hander Tarik Skubal proved to be the ultimate equalizer for Detroit.

Houston’s roster boasted not only a ton more playoff experience – the Astros’ wild-card squad has a whopping 581 career postseason games combined, compared to just 12 for Detroit – but also a far more compelling collection of statistical standouts at both ends sides of the ball. On paper, the Astros had almost every advantage, with one glaring exception: Skubal. And so it was the 27-year-old southpaw’s job to deliver in his first career playoff start.

And he did. Skubal sliced ​​and diced through some of the best hitters in the American League, displaying exceptional command of his overpowering four-pitch mix and single-handedly pushing Detroit toward the finish line of victory with each run.

That’s exactly what it should look like for the Tigers: their all-time ace living up to the hype when the team needed him most. And after Skubal quickly took down the lead of Houston’s team with just five throws at the end of the first period, the Tigers’ bats came to life in the top of the second period. Astros starter Framber Valdez had a great performance in the second half of the regular season and made the 16th playoff start of his career, but his command seemed shaky from the start on Tuesday and the Tigers struck.

Jake Rogers — a .197 hitter in the regular season who earned the Tigers’ starting job because of his strong defense — struck first. With the score tied at 3-0 with runners on the corners, the Tigers backstop decided not to wait and see if a struggling Valdez would join him, but instead took matters into his own hands and smashed a single up the middle, to give Detroit a 1-1 tie. 0 lead. Notably, the 29-year-old Rogers is Detroit’s longest-tenured player, having made his MLB debut in 2019, just two years after the Tigers acquired him from Houston – that’s right – as part of the blockbuster deal for Justin Verlander in 2017 Trade deadline.

Trey Sweeney was next. The rookie shortstop pounced on a 1-0 sinker from Valdez to score another run. For all the talk about Detroit being a hot seller this July, here was one Tigers player acquired in the deal that sent Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers and made an immediate impact in a postseason game.

Then it was Matt Vierling’s turn. As the only player on Detroit’s roster with postseason experience, Vierling was somewhat familiar with Valdez, having faced him in Game 6 of the 2022 World Series with Philadelphia. He brought a two-strike change to midfield, making it 3-0 for Detroit.

An early three-run lead in Houston against this Astros lineup isn’t a particularly comfortable cushion under most circumstances. But with Skubal on the mound, Detroit appeared to be in control.

There weren’t many worrying moments for the left-wing ace during his masterful performance. A comeback off Yainer Diaz’s bat in the second went past Skubal’s glove hand, but he was able to recover and record the out, and he quickly reassured his manager that he had nothing to worry about before calmly completing the rest of the run .

The Astros then made Skubal sweat during a 29-pitch fourth inning with some traffic on the bases, but he responded emphatically with strikeouts by Jeremy Peña and Victor Caratini, both with his sneaky changeup. He appeared to tweak his back after a 100 mph fastball against Alex Bregman in the sixth, but Skubal sent Hinch and head athletic trainer Ryne Eubanks back to the dugout again before striking out Diaz with a 99 mph fastball, to end the frame.

“He’s intense but he’s under control,” Hinch said afterwards. “He’s competitive, but he’s a thinking pitcher. He has weapons. He is the complete package of a man you need to be a chief of staff.”

That fastball, which sent Diaz back to the dugout, turned out to be Skubal’s last pitch of the day – Hinch announced after the game that Skubal was dealing with cramps – and Hinch called on his bullpen to cover the final three frames. Skubal’s final line in his first career playoff start is a fitting continuation of an outstanding regular season that will soon earn him the AL Cy Young Award: six innings, four hits allowed, one walk and six strikeouts. Of his 88 pitches, an incredible 73% went for strikes.

“You see him screaming from the mound, as competitive as he is,” Hinch continued. “We see that every day and I’m glad the baseball world gets to see it on the biggest stage of the year so far because it’s authentic and has a real impact on our club.”

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With several standout options available to Hinch, it wasn’t immediately clear in what order Detroit’s top hitters would be used in the final three innings. Will Vest came out first and was brilliant, striking out four of the five batters he faced and leaving Detroit with just five outs left when he was struck out in the eighth in favor of Tyler Holton. Lefty Holton got Kyle Tucker to end the eighth inning, setting the stage for Jason Foley to secure the ninth inning with the three-run lead still intact.

Then the plan started going wrong. Yordan Alvarez, even in his battered form as he still deals with a knee sprain, led off with a booming double to left field, another stunning reminder of his spectacular strength on the opposite field. Bregman followed with an infield single, then Diaz blasted a single to right to score Houston’s first run of the game. The Astros had life and the volume at Minute Maid Park began to grow.

After a Peña bunt to put Bregman and Diaz in scoring position, Foley retired. Right-back Beau Brieske made another playoff debut for Detroit. Brieske is a former 26th-round pick who has played countless roles for the Tigers this season, including 12 games as a starter. It was his job to finish this game.

Caratini hit a shallow line drive to left field for the second time. With one lead remaining, Brieske turned up the heat on Chas McCormick to slam the door, but to no avail. McCormick failed on two 100.1 mph heaters – the two hardest pitches of Brieske’s career – and worked a walk to load the bases for Jason Heyward.

Heyward, who joined Houston in late August after being released from the Dodgers, has provided some big success for the Astros in the weeks since joining the club. And for a split second it seemed as if he had delivered another one. But in an instant, Heyward’s line drive to the right side for the third out found its way into the glove of first baseman Spencer Torkelson, and the game was over.

After Skubal sailed smoothly for six innings, things got a little dicey towards the end. But like so many times over the last six weeks, the Tigers found a way to win.

For Houston, Tuesday marked its sixth straight postseason home loss, which comes as the Astros lost all four games to Texas in the ALCS and Game 3 of the ALDS to Minnesota last year. It’s a troubling trend that must be reversed on Wednesday if the Astros want to extend their season another day — let alone keep alive the dream of reaching the ALCS for an eighth consecutive October.

In Game 2, the Astros will hand the ball to Hunter Brown, the standout right-hander with a 2.32 ERA in his last 13 starts in early October – an excellent option considering the stakes. As for the Tigers? It’s expected to be Holton — yes, the same pitcher who faced Tucker in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game. Because of course it will be!

Hinch is fully aware of the extent to which his team’s pitching strategy deviates from the norm and has no problem admitting it. As he quipped Monday, the plan on the mound for Detroit was: “Tarik Skubal tomorrow and wreak havoc the rest of the way – that’s how it’s been for the last two months.”

Skubal did his part; that was the first step. Requiring the Tigers to use their four best bullpen arms to secure Game 1 could make implementing the so-called “chaos” from here more difficult, but that’s a tradeoff Hinch and Co. are happy to make. Hinch and his team are one win away from eliminating his former employers and advancing to the ALDS, where AL Central rivals the Guardians await. The next win will certainly require a fair amount of mixing and matching on the mound, but as Hinch noted, that’s hardly anything new.

Besides, this is a Wednesday problem. Everything is going according to plan at the moment – ​​something teams can rarely say this time of year. That’s the luxury of having a pitcher like Skubal at your side.