Detroit Tigers complete sweep of Reds with 5-1 victory, fueled by Tarik Skubal’s outstanding performance
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal turned away from the batter and let out a scream.
This was Skubal’s reaction after striking out Austin Wynns with one of his signature changeups, stranding a runner at second base in the seventh inning and preserving a one-run lead.
It marked his career-high 13th strikeout.
“My goal was to eat as many innings as I could,” Skubal said, “and it ended up being seven. That’s where my focus was. The strikeouts happen, and that’s cool, but I’m more proud of the seven innings.”
Skubal, an American League All-Star for the first time, pitched seven innings of one-run ball, leading the Tigers to a 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Sunday’s series finale at Great American Ball Park. This victory completed a three-game sweep and secured a 5-5 record on the 10-game road trip.
The Tigers (42-48) swept a series for the first time since their season-opening sweep against the Chicago White Sox in late March at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“We’ve been away from home for a long time and played a lot of different games,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “But the last three have been really fun, pretty clean, and well-rounded from the group. Pretty much everybody has contributed in the last couple of games. It’s fun to win.”
Skubal lowered his ERA to 2.37 in 18 starts with Sunday’s 93-pitch gem. The 27-year-old didn’t allow the Reds to score until his final inning.
He was nearly untouchable.
“We can stick with dominant,” Hinch said. “That’s always a good word. We’re going home, and we want to finish this road trip on a high note and get to the next two series (before the All-Star break), and he goes out and dominates. He was locked in pretty much from the beginning.”
The Reds managed just three hits in seven innings against him, without a walk. The three hits: Wynns’ double in the third inning, Will Benson’s single in the sixth inning, and Jeimer Candelario’s double in the seventh inning.
Skubal generated 23 whiffs on 51 swings — a 45.1% whiff rate — with 12 changeups, five fastballs, and six sliders. The Reds missed on 12 of their 18 swings on Skubal’s changeup, only putting two in play.
“He kept it down in the zone,” catcher Jake Rogers said of Skubal’s changeup. “He got a lot of soft contact early, so we kept going to it. He threw a lot of curveballs early in the count to keep them thinking about another pitch, and I think it helped the changeup even that much more.”
