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    • Tarik Skubal upsets the Houston Astros as the Detroit Tigers win Game 1
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    Tarik Skubal upsets the Houston Astros as the Detroit Tigers win Game 1

    Seren Anwen Posted on

    Houston — It was a fair and obvious point of discussion before the series. The Houston Astros, making their eighth straight postseason appearance, had an obvious advantage in playoff experience over a Tigers team with 11 rookies that hadn’t been on this stage in a decade.

    You know who didn’t care? Every player and coach in the Tigers clubhouse.

    “We know people are wondering how we should respond to this,” manager AJ Hinch said before Tuesday’s game. “But it’s just outside our clubhouse. We know how we will react. We’ll show up. We’ll have a lot of fun. We’ll be pretty young. We’ll be pretty energetic.

    “And our guys are going to get things done without pressure for the first time. I know everyone wants to put pressure on us, but we have the least pressure on ourselves. We can play with freedom.”

    The captain did it.

    The underdog Tigers took early control of this short, three-game Wild Card Series, defeating the American League West champion Astros 3-1 before an announced sellout crowd (40,617) at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday afternoon.

    BOX SCORE: Tigers 3, Astros 1

    Against left-hander Framber Valdez, a veteran playoff player, the Tigers strung together three two-out singles to build a 3-0 lead in the second inning. And that was all their future Cy Young Award-winning ace would need.

    Left-hander Tarik Skubal showed no nervousness, no apprehension, no outward signs that he was impressed by the size of the stage. He struck out the first three batters in five pitches. In two innings, he threw 15 pitches, 14 strikes and got six straight outs.

    Skubal ended up going six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk with six strikeouts. He certainly didn’t shy away from the strike zone. His hit rate was 72.7%. That’s an increase from his MLB-best 69.3% in the regular season.

    Skubal becomes the third Tigers pitcher to throw six scoreless innings in his postseason debut. The others were Ed Willett in 1909, Joe Coleman in 1972 and Max Scherzer in 2011.

    The Astros made him work much harder in the third and fourth innings. In the third, he stranded two runners and got Kyle Tucker to fly to left. And he almost missed the fourth inning.

    Yordan Alvarez hit a single and with one out, Yainer Diaz walked. But Skubal lowered his neck.

    First, he knocked out Jeremy Pena for the second time in the game. In the second inning, Skubal attacked him with four changeups and Pena seemed overwhelmed. In the fourth, he set him up with two 98 mph fours in the zone and went back to transition to finish him off.

    Next came Victor Caratini, who defeated Skubal in the third round. Skubal took a 2-0 lead and then fired a 100-mile-per-hour two-seater into the goal that spun Caratini around. It also cost him his heart. Skubal followed with a changeup well outside the plate and Caratini, beaten, weakly chased him for the third goal.

    It was a 29-pitch inning that would have been more expensive had Skubal not pitched two five-pitch innings. The first and then the fifth.

    With two outs in the sixth, Skubal winced and began shaking his left leg after throwing a 100 mph four-seamer to Alex Bregman. He called catcher Jake Rogers to the mound and Hinch and coach Ryne Eubanks quickly followed.

    He might have twisted his ankle, but Skubal threw a practice throw and stayed in it. Bregman hit a single off the left field wall, but Skubal ended the inning, hitting Diaz with a 99 mph heater for his 88thTh and last pitch.

    The three-run lead was initially entrusted to right-hander Will Vest, and he was perfect. He struck out all five batters he faced and struck out four of them.

    Left-hander Tyler Holton retired the last batter in the eighth and things got really exciting very quickly in the bottom of the ninth.

    Right-hander Jason Foley, who made 28 saves in the regular season, was called up even though left-hander Alvarez started first for Houston. Alvarez hit a double off the wall to left.

    Bregman followed with an infield single and with no outs the winning run was scored. It looked like Foley had beaten Diaz. Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo initially raised his arm for the third strike, but after consulting with first base umpire Jordan Baker, he said the ball had been fouled into the dirt.

    On the next pitch, Diaz hit a single to right field, scoring pinch-runner Zach Dezenzo.

    Pena put the game-winning runs in scoring position and with one out, Hinch singled right-hander Beau Brieske.

    Just like in a similar situation in Baltimore two weeks ago, Brieske fought his way out of the mess. With his fastball reaching 100 miles per hour, he got Caratini to move to left field. He walked Chas McCormick to load the bases after leading 1-2.

    That brought up veteran Jason Heyward. Brieske made him go for a 1-2 change and then went back to it. Soft line for the first time. Ball game.

    The offense, which has a lot to offer this season, came in one fell swoop.

    Rookie Wenceel Perez hit a single and Spencer Torkelson walked to put Valdez in trouble in the second inning. It was clear that he did not have the usual precise command. Of his first 30 throws, 15 were balls and 15 were strikes.

    The Tigers didn’t let him off the hook.

    Speedy Parker Meadows extended the inning, hitting a routine double-play ball. According to Statcast, his sprint speed to first place was 30.3 feet per second, which is considered elite.

    Rogers, the former Astros prospect who caught Valdez on a Class A ball, fired a 3-0 fastball into left field for the first RBI single. Rookie Trey Meadows and Matt Vierling followed with RBI singles, both hitting fastballs.

    The Tigers deftly drove balls up the middle and into the opposite field against Valdez, whose mastery lies in his ability to get right-handers on rollover pitches. He had a 61.7% ground ball rate in the regular season.

    The Tigers managed just three hits against the Astros’ bullpen

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    Seren Anwen
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