HOUSTON — Tarik Skubal twirled six shutout innings as the bottom of the order sparked an early rally that carried the Detroit Tigers to a 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the American League wild-card series on Tuesday.
Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series set to resume on Wednesday. It marked the Tigers’ first postseason win since Game 4 of the 2013 AL Championship Series against Boston.
Skubal (1-0), the presumptive favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award, pitched to that pedigree. He allowed four singles and issued one walk while recording six strikeouts. Skubal retired the Astros in order in the first, second and fifth innings and was especially effective with traffic on the bases, limiting Houston to 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position while stranding five.
With runners on first and second and two outs in the third, Skubal induced a flyout from Kyle Tucker to snuff that threat. Skubal struck out Jeremy Pena and Victor Caratini with runners on first and second to end the fourth, and notched a strikeout of Yainer Diaz following a two-out single from Alex Bregman to cap the sixth. Skubal threw 88 pitches, 64 for strikes.
“That was a great environment,” Skubal said. “Obviously the history with this team — seven straight ALCS — I think that speaks for itself. The guys that they’ve got over there, too, a ton of talent. They handle left-handed pitching well. It was a good challenge. It was a ton of fun. I enjoyed it.
“That’s probably the most nervous I’ve been since my debut (in 2020) so that was also fun to deal with. What a game. Glad to come out with the win.”
The Astros countered with left-hander Framber Valdez, whose second-inning woes proved punitive.
The Tigers mounted a two-out rally on the heels of Wenceel Perez and Spencer Torkelson reaching via a single and a walk with one out. Torkelson rallied from an 0-2 hole to reach base, and the Tigers extended the inning when Parker Meadows beat out a double-play grounder.
Jake Rogers and Trey Sweeney — batting eighth and ninth, respectively — and Matt Vierling followed with successive RBI singles, with Rogers and Sweeney pouncing on sinkers before Vierling recorded an exit velocity of 108.3 mph against a changeup. Valdez struck out Justyn-Henry Malloy to end the uprising, but that three-run frame proved ample enough with Skubal dealing.
“I thought we were one swing away there, before getting back in that ballgame,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “We ran into a pretty good left-handed pitcher. Skubal has been really good all year.
“We had a few chances there in the middle of the game, and we couldn’t capitalize. But credit to him (Skubal). He made pitches. And we battled ‘til the end. We had a shot there in the ninth, and we just couldn’t get a big hit.”
Along with the three runs, Valdez allowed seven hits and walked two while recording three strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings.
The Astros fashioned a last-ditch rally against Tigers reliever Jason Foley in the ninth. Yordan Alvarez (double), Alex Bregman (single) and Yainer Diaz (RBI single) reached in succession to make it 3-1. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third with one out, Tigers right-hander Beau Brieske came in and notched the final two outs, including getting Jason Heyward to line out to Torkelson at first base to strand the bases loaded.
–MK Bower, Field Level Media
