Tarik Skubal pitched seven shutout innings and Jake Rogers hit a two-run triple to break a scoreless tie to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 5-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.
The Tigers (80-58) took two of three from the Royals (70-67), building their American League Central lead to 9 1/2 games. It was a welcome finish to a road trip that began with a three-game sweep at the hands of the Athletics.
“The series aren’t connected. We reset after all of these, which I’ve said. But yeah, we wanted to win this series, go home on a good note, continue to chip away at the win total and win as many games as we can,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters after the game.
After Royals starter Michael Wacha cruised through four innings, the Tigers broke through with four runs in the fifth.
Rogers’ triple came on a towering shot to deep center that Tyler Tolbert couldn’t track down as he slammed into the wall.
Colt Keith followed with a double to score Rogers, and then Gleyber Torres had an RBI single to knock Wacha out of the game and give the Tigers a 4-0 lead.
That was more than enough for Skubal, who had traffic on the bases in five of his seven innings and struck out only four, but still managed to keep zeros on the board.
Skubal has thrown six or more shutout innings in 11 of his 26 starts this year.
“(The Royals) can put a lot of pressure on you because they put the ball in play,” Hinch said. “They generally don’t chase, and they load up that right-handed lineup that’s pretty good. So Skubal knew the game was going to be won inside the strike zone, and he had to beat them with sequencing and well-timed pitches. I thought he found his command better as the game went on. I know he had the walk at the end in the seventh, but I felt like he was starting to locate pitches better and better, which put him in complete control. When you put up a four-spot with him on the mound, you feel good. That lets him settle in and be even more aggressive than he normally is.”
Kyle Finnegan pitched a scoreless eighth, extending his scoreless streak since joining the Tigers to 14 1/3 innings.
Rafael Montero pitched a scoreless ninth and now has five straight scoreless appearances, a span of seven innings.
Up next: The Tigers return home and open a three-game series with the New York Mets on Monday at 1:10 p.m. at Comerica Park.
Tigers right-hander Charlie Morton (9-10, 5.25 ERA) will face Mets lefty Sean Manaea (1-2, 5.01).
Morton has struck out 36 in 27 1/3 innings since joining the Tigers at the trade deadline.
The first season of Manaea’s three-year, $75 million deal with the Mets has not gone as hoped. He didn’t debut until mid-July, but since returning he has been better than his ERA suggests, with 53 strikeouts and just eight walks in 41 innings.
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