Kansas City, Missouri. – Tarik Skubal let out his trademark exclamation on Wednesday after ending the fifth inning and his night by striking out arch-nemesis Salvador Perez and leaving two runners on the field.
He was so excited that he ripped the glove off his right hand. And why not? He had thrown seven strikeouts in his five innings and allowed just one run in the first inning, finally conquering some of his demons at Kauffman Stadium.
He helped the storming Tigers to their fourth straight win and their first sweep of the Royals in Kansas City since June 2021. And more importantly, they moved one step closer to the final wild-card spot in the American League.
The Tigers’ 4-2 win over the Royals and the Twins’ bitter 10th-inning loss to the Guardians in Cleveland put them just half a game away from last place.
“It was a struggle for him,” manager AJ Hinch said of his left-hander. “And he did a great job. Sometimes five innings is all it takes and he did his job by getting the biggest out against his biggest nemesis and showing a lot of emotion. He’s our guy and we need our guy to do his part and tonight he did that.”
How unreal is that? The Tigers were nine games under .500 on July 4. They traded four veteran players at the deadline. They designated another for assignment. Their starting shortstop suffered a season-ending hip injury. And yet they have the best record in the American League (33-23) since the All-Star break and the best record in baseball (25-10) since August 11.
RESULT: Tigers 4, Royals 2
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And if the Twins lose again on Thursday while the Tigers await a three-game series in Baltimore, they will be tied for the final wild-card spot. Currently, the Royals (82-71), Twins (80-72) and Tigers (80-73) are separated by two games.
“Look around this room,” Skubal said. “That comes from every single person in this room. Look at our season. We got off to a good start, then fell off in the middle and now look at us. We were sellers at the trade deadline. And now look at us. That speaks to the guys in this room. There’s no quitting and it’s a lot of fun.”
“I love what we’re doing.”
The heroes of this game include a couple of unknown relievers who spent most of the year in Triple-A (Brenan Hanifee and Sean Guenther) and a couple of fiery rookies who play the game with fearlessness and infectious emotion (Jace Jung and Wenceel Perez). There are also two mainstays – Skubal and Riley Greene.
“First of all, we believe in it,” Hinch said. “And secondly, we try to win every day, and we win a lot. It’s fun to watch these guys learn and develop and fight with all they’ve got until the end of the game.”
Things got a bit dicey in the eighth inning, especially because the Tigers’ best relievers (Jason Foley and Tyler Holton) were unavailable.
The right-hander Hanifee replaced Skubal in the sixth inning and kept the Royals off the board for two innings. In the eighth inning, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a pop-up behind third base.
Shortstop Trey Sweeney and third baseman Zach McKinstry miscommunicated and the ball fell for a double. Perez followed with an RBI single.
“I know we make mistakes at times,” Hinch said. “I know some things don’t go the way we want them to. But if you stay in the competition, you just keep playing, man.”
Hinch called up left-hander Guenther for lefty pinch hitter MJ Melendez. Royals manager Matt Quatraro countered with right-hander Freddy Fermin.
Guenther caused a 5-4-3 double play with his second pitch and the Tigers survived the inning.
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“Every time I come in the game, Tork (first baseman Spencer Torkelson) greets me with, ‘Hey, get us a ground ball,'” said Guenther, who got a double-play ball on the first pitch Monday. “I tell him, ‘I’m going to do my best.’ Especially after the play he made today, I have to trust that guy.”
At the start of the ninth inning, Guenther faced left-handed batter Michael Massey, and Torkelson made a sensational pike catch to right to keep the lead-off hitter off base.
Right-hander Will Vest came into the game and made the last two outs without drama.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Skubal said. “The last time we were here (in May), we were on the other side of the sweep. We have a good group, a resilient group. Just looking at the season we’ve had, I think that all showed in this series.”
It was a busy five innings for Skubal, who had a 1-5 record and an ERA over 6.0 in his career with Kauffman.
And the way it started, it seemed like it was going to be another one of those nights. The Royals caught him with three ground ball singles in the first inning and took a 1-0 lead.
“It’s all about making the shots right,” he said. “If I can make the shots quick, I’ll have a good chance against anyone, no matter how often they see me or what stadium we’re in. They blocked some good shots and shortened my time.”
“But we won. Who cares?”
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Skubal responded by going into faceoff mode, attacking the Royals with four-seam fastballs at 97 to 99 miles per hour. And he didn’t allow another hit.
He threw 53 heaters and managed 11 whiffs (in 31 swings) and 11 strikes. He combined for 31 changeups (six whiffs in 14 swings).
“Honestly, I was running out of gas from the first pitch,” Skubal said.
He got himself into trouble in the fifth inning when he hit Witt with a two-strike fastball with two outs. Garrett Hampson had reached on an error by McKinstry earlier in the inning, and right fielder Perez caught a Tommy Pham drive with a gutsy catch off the wall.
“Great play,” Skubal said. “And honestly, he hit a pretty good pitch, too. But (Perez) sacrificed his body a little bit when the fence was that close. Great play.”
That brought Perez’s turn. He has terrorized Skubal in his career, going 10-of-27 with four home runs and having one of the hits in the first inning.
But Skubal never let him settle, mixing changeups and four-seamers. He finally got the strikeout by throwing two consecutive 3-2 changeups, the last one bouncing to his back foot and Perez swinging over it.
“I tried to avoid the big inning,” Skubal said. “And the emotion there, I mean, there was an error and it’s an inning that has a chance to be big. To get a zero there and leave it to Hanifee and the bullpen, that was a great win.”
Through the offensive he had gained a lead of 4:1.
After the Tigers left five runners on base in the first two innings, Greene decided to exclude the runner in scoring position from batting.
As the first batter of the third inning, he hit a 93-mph fastball from Royals right-hander Alec Marsh. The ball traveled 427 feet and landed behind the bullpen in right field.
He had swung way too early on the changeup of the previous pitch. He couldn’t have arrived at the heater any more on time.
The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 112 mph. It was Greene’s 25th home run and it led off a three-run inning.
After Torkelson walked and Jung singled, Sweeney hit a double at first base and both runs scored.
Third base coach Joey Cora aggressively sent Jung home and the throw got there first. Somehow, however, he managed to get his foot on the plate before catcher Perez could throw the bat.
“I was just really excited,” said Jung, who jumped up like Kirk Gibson with his fists raised after hitting a home run in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series. “He missed the tee shot on me. When I slid, it was just a matter of getting as low to the ground as I could. That was my thought. I didn’t feel any tee shot and I was just like, ‘Oh yeah!’
“I’m just trying to fire the guys up.”
He absolutely did that.
“I think our team is doing a really good job day to day and game to game,” said Skubal, who now has the American League’s all-time leader with 17 wins. “It starts with AJ and his influence on all of our guys. We have to keep winning and hopefully we can control our destiny in the end.”
Such a thought was completely unimaginable a month ago. What a rollercoaster ride it has become.
@cmccosky
