Tarik Skubal took the mound at Comerica Park on Sunday and made sure the Detroit Tigers closed out their homestand with authority.
The lefty was untouchable, striking out 11 over six shutout innings to lead Detroit to a 7-0 win over the Orioles and a clean three-game sweep. By the end of the afternoon, the Tigers had won their fourth straight, wrapped up an 8-2 homestand, and improved to 18-10 on the season.
“They saw the patented aggressive yells at the end of these big strikeouts to end innings,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said after the game. “It was vintage Tarik.”
Skubal wasted no time setting the tone, fanning five of the first seven hitters he faced. As Jared Ramsey of the Detroit Free Press put it, Skubal âthrew his best fastball of the season and completely shut down the Orioles,” mixing upper-90s heat with a devastating changeup that had Baltimoreâs lineup off-balance all day.
Skubal’s Command Sets the Pace for Surging Tigers
The afternoon was vintage Skubal in every sense â confidence, precision, and dominance. He worked around four hits without issuing a walk and generated 22 swinging strikes, the second-most he’s recorded in a start this year. Check out his tenth strikeout of the day here.
“It looked like from the side that that was some of the best stuff that he’s had this entire year,” Hinch said. “Finished on his fastball. He had the changeup whenever he wanted.”
Skubal credited catcher Dillon Dingler for keeping hitters guessing: “That’s the way Ding set it up, he was great,” Skubal said. “It felt like we were always throwing it in unpredictable counts.”
Even when the Orioles threatened, like in the fourth inning when a single and a hit-by-pitch put two on, Skubal calmly pitched his way out of trouble with a groundout and a strikeout. He finished his day with back-to-back punchouts in the sixth, walking off to a chorus of “SKUB!” chants from the Comerica crowd.
At the plate, Detroit kept adding on. Javier Báez sparked the offense with a two-run double in the second inning and later singled and scored again. Gleyber Torres drove in three runs, while rookies Jace Jung and Dillon Dingler chipped in with RBI singles.
As Ramsey noted, the Tigers’ offensive execution on Sunday was “the blueprint of what has made Detroit so dangerous at home all season long” â steady pressure, patient at-bats, and timely hits.
Hinch emphasized the progress Báez has made at the plate: “Weâve gotten to small goals with him on have a good at-bat and let the result be what it is,” he said. “Those will come as a byproduct of a good approach and having positive at-bats.”
The Tigers closed their 10-game homestand with a 13-3 record at Comerica, one of the best home marks in baseball. With Skubal leading the way and the lineup coming through up and down the order, Detroit is starting to look like a team ready to hang around all summer.
“The freedom that he’s playing with, it is also coming with incredible discipline,” Hinch said, summing up not just Báez, but the Tigers’ early season vibe.
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