HOUSTON — This is now Tarik Skubal’s calling card. A powerful pitch. A strikeout to end an inning. Then a fist pump and a mighty roar.

“You’ve got to be heads up when he comes off the mound,” Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch said recently. “If you greet him with too big a hug, he might knock you down the stairs.”

Skubal has done it all season, the displays of raw emotion and the performances validating such heady acts. He did it again on Tuesday in Houston. Skubal made the first postseason start of his career, and as nervous as he was since his major league debut, he lived up to the expectations he set with his dominant regular season.

Choose which title you prefer: ace; workhorse; starter on the front line. Skubal checks them all. He further cemented his growing claim to the title of Baseball’s Best Pitcher, this time turning six scoreless innings and leading his young Tigers to a 3-1 victory in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series.

“I know it’s on a bigger scale, and it’s in front of a big crowd, both locally here and our fans and the country,” Hinch said. “But we’ve seen a lot of these Tarik Skubal starts. This is not an outlier. This is why many people call him one of the best throwers in the world.”

Facing the dangerous top half of Houston’s order, Skubal struck out Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez on five pitches in the first inning. That’s one way to set the tone.

Here at Minute Maid Park, a stadium that has haunted many a pitcher in the postseason, Skubal was undeterred by the moment and the size. His signature changeup spun and disappeared away from hitters. He used the field 32 times. He also attacked the strike zone with his powerful four-seam and sinker. Of all the reasons Skubal has asserted himself as a force to be reckoned with, perhaps the greatest is his skill at throwing strikes. The pitcher who fired the first pitch at a rate of 68.7 percent during the regular season and who ranked second among all qualifying pitchers in percentage of pitches in the zone simply did more of the same.

“He’s been doing that all year,” catcher Jake Rogers said with a shrug.

🗣️ How do we feel in Detroit!? pic.twitter.com/xuh5b0Jjyt

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 1, 2024

Only two moments stood as a roadblock for Skubal on Tuesday. The first came in the fourth inning, when the Astros mounted a challenge. Alvarez singled. Alex Bregman fought for nine pitches before flying out. Yainer Diaz walked to end another nine-pitch affair. With two on and one off, Skubal didn’t change his approach or revamp his plan. He put his faith in Jake Rogers, the backstop who has taken every Skubal start this season and the one who Skubal said only gave up the sack once all game. That was on the field. Alvarez was in the middle with a speed of 187 km per hour.

“It almost killed me,” Skubal said. “So yeah, I learned my lesson. I’m not shaking.”

Facing short stop Jeremy Peña, Skubal recorded a strikeout after a dirty change low and inside. Then, facing Victor Caratini, Skubal scored a punchout with another changeup, this one floating off the plate and out.

And then came the last roar of this Tiger.

“There’s a part of it where you kind of black out and that just happens,” Skubal said. “But yeah, it was a big pitch.”

The second glimpse of trouble came in the sixth inning. Skubal was again involved in a duel with Bregman. After firing off a pitch, he seemed to land strangely on his follow-through. Skubal called Rogers to the mound. He followed the mud. Hinch and coach Ryne Eubanks jogged onto the field. Everyone held their breath. Skubal told them he had a cramp in his left hamstring.

“I felt a lot better when he said the word ‘cramp,’” Hinch said.

Rogers looked at his ace and said, “One more. That’s all we need.”

Skubal stayed in the match. Bregman lined a shot off the left field wall. But Skubal was not deterred. He attacked Diaz and recorded his sixth and final strikeout with a high fastball, at 100.4 mph.

After just 88 pitches and six scoreless innings, Skubal retired to the dugout. He ventured down the stairs leading to the clubhouse and Hinch followed him. They decided his day was over.

Tarik Skubal: “I mean, I feel great. I’m not really worried about it in the future.”

“But it’s frustrating. I don’t know what I can do. I hydrate enough. Nutrition is fine. Probably a product of trying to throw every pitch pretty hard. I am a heavy sweater.” https://t.co/9rcOjH2aXL

— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) October 1, 2024

Even though the end came one inning early, the result was exactly what we’ve seen from Skubal all season. Precision. Current. Dominance.

This is the kind of mixture a pitcher can use to exert his will and propel a team to the next round. Faced with his greatest challenge yet, Skubal responded coolly. Anyone who gets surprised simply hasn’t been paying enough attention.

“You see him shouting from the mound, no matter how competitive he is,” Hinch said. “We see that every day, and I’m glad the baseball world gets to see that on the biggest stage of the year yet because it’s authentic and has a real impact on our club.”

The plan from here, Hinch said, is to “create chaos.” That’s become the Tigers’ brand over the past two months, ever since Hinch and president of baseball operations Scott Harris sat down at their post-trade deadline breakfast and devised a plan to put their young and unproven weapons in the best possible position for success.

We’ve seen it in so many games. Green pitchers throw in new situations. Unannounced weapons that trigger game-changing outs.

“I love it,” Skubal said. “Those guys have been working on it for the past month and a half. Just mix and match, in every situation and in every scenario. Doesn’t matter. Directly from (Triple-A) Toledo directly into leverage collections. It doesn’t matter who takes the ball. They come in and make pitches.

We saw all of this again on Tuesday in Game 1, when right-hander Beau Brieske came in from the bullpen and was called upon to clean up Jason Foley’s two-runner mess and eliminate any chance of Houston’s postseason magic. Not long ago, Brieske was in camp hoping to make the rotation as a starter. A few years earlier, he was a 27th-round draft pick who threw 90 mph. But through hard work, the right guidance and now the right opportunities, Brieske has shown signs of emerging as a formidable reliever.

“When I come out with my best stuff and I’m on offense and I’m executing, I have stuff that can play in any inning,” Brieske said. “I’ve always believed that.”

Less than two weeks ago, Brieske threw the Tigers out of a jam session in the second and third ninth inning in Baltimore, a victory that helped them to the postseason. He came in at a similar spot on Tuesday. In the bullpen, he reminded himself of exactly that.

“I’ve done it before. Be prepared,” he said. “Then when I ran onto the field, the moment sucks your attention there.”

Jake Rogers and Beau Brieske celebrate after the Tigers won Game 1 in Houston. (Troy Taormina / Imagn images)

Armed with his fastball and a nasty changeup, Brieske got Caratini to move to left field. He walked Chas McCormick after failing to hit what he called “the kill shot,” a powerful up-and-down fastball. But he reached a speed of 160.1 km/h on the radar, a career high that underlines his capabilities. The final batter of the game was Jason Heyward. The veteran outfielder hit a 90.9 mph line drive that buzzed right into the glove of first baseman Spencer Torkelson. Another exhalation.

“Well placed defence,” Hinch said with a grin.

For Game 1, the Tigers sent Reese Olson to the media room as the official spokesperson for Pitching Chaos. The term means the Tigers won’t operate with a traditional starter in Games 2 or 3.

“All I really know,” Olson said, “is that when AJ tells me to go to the mound, I go.”

After the match, Brieske lifted small weights to the side in the clubhouse, undergoing arm care, theoretically unsure of when it will be used next. Tigers all-player Tyler Holton had a recovery device strapped to his shoulder after throwing just two pitches and striking out Kyle Tucker. The Tigers announced he will serve as the Game 2 opener on Wednesday.

As the Tigers players left the ballpark Tuesday, the sun still high in the Texas sky, they couldn’t have entered a more ideal situation. Their ace advanced in Game 1. Their bullpen held the lead, none the worse for the wear despite playoff drama. They have two more games to choose matchups as they wish, then use their best arms with few limitations to play the scrappy but outside-the-box style that has helped them defy the odds.

“I don’t think today, in the first playoff game for a lot of these guys, it’s a small thing that it’s looked eerily familiar over the last two months,” Hinch said.

As impressive as the Astros are, the Tigers are now in a new position, one where they have the power.

Since MLB moved to a best-of-three wild-card format, teams that win Game 1 have advanced all eight times.

(Top photo by Tarik Skubal: Tim Warner / Getty Images)