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Tarik Skubal stymies Houston Astros as Detroit Tigers win Game 1

Vaseline October 1, 2024

Houston — It was an honest and obvious topic of conversation before the series. The Houston Astros, making their eighth straight postseason appearance, had a clear advantage in playoff experience over an 11-rookie Tigers team 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’re going to respond to this,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game on Tuesday. “But it’s only outside our clubhouse. We know how we are going to respond. We’re going to show up. We’re going to have a lot of fun. We must be quite young. We will be quite energetic.

“And for the first time our boys are going to do things without any pressure. I know everyone wants to put pressure on us, but we put the least pressure on us. We can start playing with freedom.”

The skipper made it happen.

The underdog Tigers seized 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 Tuesday afternoon.

BOX SCORE: Tigers 3, Astros 1

Against left-handed Framber Valdez, a veteran playoff performer, the Tigers scored three two-out singles to build a 3-0 lead in the second inning. And that was all their soon-to-be Cy Young Award-winning ace would need.

Lefty Tarik Skubal showed no nerves, no fear, no outward signs that he was impressed by the size of the stage. He tore through the first three batters in five pitches. Over two innings, he threw 15 pitches, 14 strikes and got six straight outs.

Skubal ultimately got through six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk with six strikeouts. He certainly didn’t shy away from the strike zone. His success rate was 72.7%. That’s more than 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 a lot harder in the third and fourth innings. He stranded a pair of runners in the third, causing Kyle Tucker to flee to left. And the fourth inning almost got away from him.

Yordan Alvarez singled and with one out, Yainer Diaz walked. But Skubal bent his neck.

First, he knocked out Jeremy Pena for the second time in the match. In the second inning, Skubal attacked him with four changes and Pena looked overmatched. In the fourth, he set him up with a pair of 98-mph four-seamers in the zone and went back to the transition to finish him off.

Next up was Victor Caratini, who singled off Skubal in the third. Skubal took the lead 0-2 and then turned on a 100mph two-seater, spinning Caratini. It also took his heart. Skubal followed with a changeup far from the plate and Caratini, defeated, weakly chased him for strike three.

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

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

He may have rolled his ankle, but Skubal threw one practice throw and stayed in. Bregman singled off the left field wall, but Skubal ended the inning by striking out Diaz with a 99-mph heater on his 88.^e and final throw.

The three-point lead was first given to right-hander Will Vest, and he was perfect. He retired all five batters he faced and struckout four.

Lefty Tyler Holton retired the last batter in the eighth, then things got exciting very quickly in the bottom of the ninth.

Right-hander Jason Foley, who had 28 saves in the regular season, was called up even though the left-handed Alvarez was up first for Houston. Alvarez doubled off the wall to left.

Bregman followed with an infield single and with no outs, the tying run was at home. It looked like Foley eliminated Diaz. Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo initially raised his arm for strike three, but after consulting with first base umpire Jordan Baker, he said the ball went into the ground.

Next pitch, Diaz singled to right field, scoring pinch-runner Zach Dezenzo.

Pena bunted the tying run into scoring position and with one out, Hinch called on right-hander Beau Brieske.

Just as he did in a similar situation in Baltimore two weeks ago, Brieske clawed his way out of the mess. As his fastball reached 100 mph, he got Caratini to move to left field. He walked Chas McCormick to load the bases after taking a 1-2 lead.

Veteran Jason Heyward brought that up. Brieske let him hunt for a 1-2 change and then went at it again. Soft line to the first. Ball game.

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

Rookie Wenceel Perez singled and Spencer Torkelson walked, causing Valdez to get into trouble in the second inning. It was clear he didn’t have his usual pinpoint command. Of his first 30 pitches, 15 were balls and 15 were strikes.

The Tigers didn’t let him go.

Speedy Parker Meadows extended the inning, beating a routine double play ball. His sprint speed home to first place was 30.3 feet per second, according to Statcast, which is considered elite.

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

The Tigers cleverly drove balls up the middle and into the opposite field against Valdez, whose mastery lies in his ability to get right-handed hitters rolling to the ball. He had a 61.7% groundball percentage in the regular season.

The Tigers managed just three hits against the Astros’ bullpen

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@cmccosky