09/18/25 02:18:00
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09/18 14:16 CDT Tarik Skubal returns from injury scare for Tigers, giving up 1
run in 6 innings against Guardians
Tarik Skubal returns from injury scare for Tigers, giving up 1 run in 6 innings
against Guardians
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
DETROIT (AP) --- Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal returned from an injury scare
and gave up one run over six innings against the Cleveland Guardians on
Thursday.
Skubal, who had tightness on his left side during his previous start, allowed
seven hits, struck out nine and walked two in a 102-pitch outing.
The reigning AL Cy Young Award and pitching Triple Crown winner was replaced by
right-hander Troy Melton in the seventh in a 1-all game. Nine pitches later,
Jose Ramirez hit a go-ahead, two-run homer to give the Guardians a 3-1 lead.
The AL Central-leading Tigers were desperately hoping to win the series finale
against the second-place Guardians, whose recent rally coupled with Detroit's
slump has made the division race competitive with a little more than a week
left in the regular season.
Cleveland made the most of Skubal's mistake in the fourth, taking advantage of
an 0-2 changeup he threw over the plate with Jhonkensy Noel's game-tying solo
homer. In the same inning, the 28-year-old Skubal struck out Brayan Rocchio to
set a single-season career high with 229 strikeouts.
The hard-throwing lefty was more effective later in the game, striking out
David Fry with a 101.5-mph pitch to end the top of the fifth inning.
He started the sixth inning with 82 pitches and struck out Gabriel Arias on
four pitches and Noel on four more pitches. With a chance to get out of the
sixth, Rocchio hit a triple that right fielder Wenceel Prez had a chance to
catch but could not snag.
The Guardians extended the inning with Austin Hedges' walk on a pitch Skubal
thought was a strike as he squatted in disbelief that he threw a ball.
Skubal responded by striking out Nolan Jones with a 99.5-mph pitch to end the
sixth in his start that showed he's healthy. He threw 100 pitches for the third
time, two shy of a season-high 105 in July against Texas.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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