Tarik Skubal throws 7 scoreless innings against Rays

DETROIT — The last time a Tigers pitcher won 18 games in a season, Max Scherzer helped Detroit hold on for its fourth consecutive American League Central title in 2014. If Detroit makes it to the postseason for the first time since then, it’ll have another 18-game winner to thank, at least in part.

After Tarik Skubal unleashed his 103rd and final pitch on Tuesday afternoon, a 97 mph fastball that Christopher Morel fouled into Jake Rogers’ mitt for Skubal’s seventh strikeout of the day, the Tigers left-hander let out a yell and a reaction that was strong even for him. The crowd, which had endured a start-time change and then a rain delay to watch the AL Cy Young favorite, responded in kind, prompting Skubal to pound his glove in applause back on his way to the dugout.

“Gotta be heads-up when he comes off the mound,” said manager A.J. Hinch. “If you greet him with too big of a hug, then he might knock you down the stairs.”

Skubal’s energy is contagious that way.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Wenceel Pérez, whose two-run double stood as the difference in Detroit’s 2-1 win. “He fires everybody up the way that he pitches. He attacks everybody, goes for it, and then the way he gets fired up after the last strikeout, I love when he does that.”

This is the big stage Tigers fans have waited through a rebuild and a youth movement to see, an ace on the mound with a chance to bring Detroit one step closer to its first postseason berth in a decade. Skubal met the moment with seven scoreless innings, outdueling Ryan Pepiot and setting up Pérez to be a hero.

The Tigers’ third consecutive win ensured they’ll remain in possession of an AL Wild Card spot entering Wednesday. It also might have erased any lingering doubt about Skubal’s remarkable season to help put them in this position.

“This is why you play the game, to play in moments like this,” Skubal said. “It’s a ton of fun.”

Not only has Skubal been the one constant of a Tigers rotation that has been in flux since midsummer, he has been the exception to the mixing and matching that Hinch has done with openers and bulk pitchers during Detroit’s run toward a postseason spot. The Tigers took two of three in Baltimore last weekend with an all-hands-on-deck approach knowing that Skubal loomed on Tuesday to begin the final charge.

“I just wanted to get our team off on a good note for the homestand,” Skubal said. “To come out with a win, especially with how important these next five games are, yeah, there was a little bit more importance to that to me.”

Instead of the electric 100 mph fastball, Skubal showed his full arsenal, particularly a changeup that had deserted him in some recent starts. José Caballero’s second-inning single and Ben Rortvedt’s fifth-inning squibber down the left-field line comprised Tampa Bay’s only hits off Skubal (18-4), who allowed just three other balls in play to escape the infield.

“Elite strike-throwing,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I mean, he just attacked the strike zone, which, I don’t blame him. When you’ve got that type of stuff, you should throw it over as much as possible, and he certainly did that against us. But it looked like he had all of his pitches going — both big fastballs, cutter and then the changeup he can throw any time.”

“I was chasing butterflies out there,” joked Meadows, none too bothered by the inactivity.

No Rays baserunner advanced into scoring position, with Caballero retired on a strikeout-throwout double play to end the second inning. Skubal followed Rortvedt’s single by retiring the final seven batters he faced.

Pepiot kept pace, but he never figured out Pérez, who worked the right-hander for 26 of his 85 pitches over three plate appearances: an 11-pitch walk in the opening inning, a six-pitch walk in the fourth, then a nine-pitch battle with the bases loaded in the fifth, culminating in Pérez’s line drive to the right-field corner.

With a win delivered, Skubal now lurks again. If the Tigers need him to seal a Wild Card spot, he’ll pitch Sunday’s regular-season finale against the White Sox. If they clinch before then, he’ll wait for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Oct. 1.

“We’ve gotta get there,” Skubal said. “We haven’t clinched or done anything like that, so my mind’s on Sunday. We’ve gotta keep winning.”