The Detroit Tigers and KC Royals faced off for the rubber match of the three-game series this Sunday afternoon. Staff ace and Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal toed off against the solid veteran Michael Wacha. Wacha just came off the paternity list, but did not miss a start, while Skubal was looking to bounce back from a night to forget in Sacramento. He had the luxury of pitching to his dearest pal from 2024, Jake Rogers, after Dillon Dingler had caught most of his outings so far.
For both, the first inning went quietly. Detroit went three up, three down against Wacha, including a strikeout from Colt Keith to lead off the game. From there, Gleyber Torres and Kerry Carpenter grounded out.
Skubal got two quick flyballs before Vinnie Pasquantino blooped one into left field for a single. Sal Perez grounded out to the catcher, though, ending the inning. Skubal did throw 18% sliders here, potentially worth keeping an eye on.
Riley Greene returned serve by dumping one out of Bobby Witt Jr’s reach to lead off the second. Unfortunately, Detroit went down in order after that. A hard liner to centerfield from Zack McKinstry was the most interesting, but Wacha was cruising early.
Fortunately, Skubal could match. A two-out walk and fly ball single made things interesting, but a liner to Carpenter ended the threat. A little bit of hard contact, but nothing came of it.
Wacha continued to carve Detroit up, although this particular bottom of the lineup is particularly uninspiring. Rogers grounded out to shortstop, then Trey Sweeney struck out on a fastball at his eyes. Whoops. Keith’s opposite field fly ball wrapped the inning.
Skubal’s inning started with a bang of the wrong sort, as Maikel Garcia doubled down the third base line. Witt Jr then gave a fastball a ride to centerfield to advance the runner. Skubal decided he had had enough, though, and dusted Pasquantino on three fastballs. Perez then shattered his bat on a grounder to shortstop, keeping KC off the board.
Torres led off the fourth with an ugly strikeout of several checked swings – day off, anyone? – as his slump continued. Carpenter and Greene then skied flyballs for two more quick outs.
Skubal had apparently tired of the Royals. He struck out Randal Grichuk with a wicked changeup, then dared Nick Loftin to hit 97 (spoiler: he couldn’t). Luke Maile grounded out to finalize KC’s first 1-2-3 inning.
The Tigers finally showed some life in the fifth. Spencer Torkelson led off with a walk and McKinstry’s single moved him to third. Rogers then lined a triple off the wall in centerfield; it might have been catchable, but an awful route made that impossible. Keith followed with a double in the gap, temporarily pushing the lead to three. Torres then chased Wacha from the game with a two-strike single to right, scoring Keith. Daniel Lynch IV came in to get Carpenter, ending the inning.
Armed with a lead, Skubal entered cruise control. Two easy flyouts meant Garcia’s two-out double was entirely unthreatening. Witt Jr. popped out to Torkelson in foul ground for an easy inning.
The lefty Lynch returned for the sixth inning. Greene struck out, then Torkelson, Wenceel Perez, and McKinstry all hit groundballs. Perez found a hole with his, preventing the perfect inning.
Skubal continued to cruise through the sixth inning. Two flyballs and a hard grounder made for an easy three up, three down. McKinstry and Torkelson combined for a nice pick and swipe tag for that third out.
Lynch came back out to get Rogers out, and he did all the right things. Rogers skied it to left, but the overzealous Tolbert called off his left fielder, then forgot to catch the baseball, gifting Rogers a leadoff double. Unfortunately, the Tigers could not cash in. Andy Ibanez pinch hit for Sweeney, even though the righty Jonathan Bowlan came in, but a grounder to third kept the runner in place. Keith then struck out and Torres walked, leaving it up to Carpenter, who also struck out. Hopefully that doesn’t haunt them later.
Skubal returned for the seventh and promptly gave up a leadoff, four-pitch walk. A double play negated that, and another grounder ended the inning. It was a weird day from Skubal, but ultimately an effective one of 7 scoreless innings. He just didn’t have the flashy strikeouts we expect and mixed in his breaking stuff a little more than normal. Maybe that was the plan.
Another lefty, Sam Long, came in for the eighth. He walked Greene, then struck out Torkelson looking. Long then entirely lost the plot; a single from Perez and a hit-by-pitch on McKinstry loaded the bases for the hero of the hour, Rogers. Rogers struck out on a full-count curveball for the second out, but a passed ball let Greene come in for run number five. Unfortunately, Ibanez’ line drive to left was caught to end the inning.
Despite the five run lead, Kyle Finnegan came in for the bottom of the eighth and the top of the order. He was nasty as ever, working a 9-pitch inning. Mike Yaztremski pinch-hit for Tolbert to no effect. Finnegan then carved up Garcia with two painted fastballs before getting Witt Jr to pop up to Perez.
The bullpen carousel continued for KC; in came Taylor Clarke. Keith grounded out to start things off. Torres then had a very Torres at-bat, fouling off four to run the count full before lining a single on the 10th pitch. Taylor then hit Carpenter, putting two men on in front of Greene. Unfortunately, Greene could not pad his RBI count and hit an easy double play to second.
Rafael Montero took over for Finnegan, looking to continue his decent run of late. Today he was in the zone to work an easy, borderline dominant, ninth inning. Pasquantino flew out on a 2-2 splitter, then Perez broke another bat on another grounder to shortstop. Finally, Montero set down the pinch-hitting Adam Frazier by freezing him on a fastball down in the zone. That version of Montero is entirely usable; may we be so lucky?
Behind a solid Skubal and Rogers hitting hard fly balls to exactly the right spot, Detroit cruised to an easy victory over KC. The win keeps Detroit out in front of the Toronto Blue Jays in the race for the American League’s top seed while pushing their advantage in the AL Central even further. They’ll take on the New York Mets tomorrow afternoon to kick off their next homestand.
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