Skubal dominated, McKinstry pulled a run out of thin air, and the offense exploded in the 10th inning to secure the sweep.
The Detroit Tigers took the field this afternoon looking to finish off a sweep of the Cleveland Guardians and really bury them before the All Star break. Tarik Skubal faced off against Gavin Williams, who has been quietly breaking out this year. It took 10 innings, but the good guys made it happen in the end, sweeping the Guardians out of Progressive Field with a pair of late rallies.
The top of the first inning saw Colt Keith lead off with a walk. Matt Vierling, up to the two hole so Gleyber Torres could get a day off after the collision last night, grounded out to Ramirez at third. He was initially ruled safe, but it was overturned. Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson went down to end the inning.
Skubal promptly struck out Steven Kwan and David Fry. He then got to face Ramirez in the best situation imaginable – with the bases empty and two outs. A groundout ended the first.
The Tigers then went 1-2-3 in the 2nd. Wenceel Perez had a long at-bat that ended with a groundout, and Dillon Dingler had a hard groundout up the middle, but nothing came of either. Williams got up to 40 pitches after this inning.
Carlos Santana, Angel Martinez and Johnathan Rodriguez all grounded out. The 7 pitch inning had Skubal at 25 total through two innings. He looked excellent to this point.
The Tigers again went 1-2-3 as the bottom of the order continued to be rather uninspiring. Javy Baez and Trey Sweeney both struck out, continuing wretched starts to July for the pair. Keith then smashed one to the top of the wall in left field, but Kwan leapt to take extra bases and keep the Tigers hitless through three innings.
Skubal struck out two more in the third inning. There’s really not much else to say at this point; he was dealing. Will Wilson had the unenviable job of being recalled from AAA-Columbus to face him and was quickly dispatched. Skubal then overpowered the backup catcher, Austin Hedges, and got a grounder to Baez at third.
Williams continued to deal by moving his upper-90s fastball around the zone. Vierling and Torkelson struck out, sandwiching a Greene lineout. Williams had fully settled in at this point and gotten his pitch count back under control, with 62 through 4 innings.
If you were paying close attention, you likely noticed the Guardians had 0 hits through here. Kwan ended it with an infield single to – checks notes – Torkelson at first. A soft chopper pulled Tork off the line and Kwan beat Skubal to first. Skubal was evidently angry; he took it out on Fry and Ramirez, striking out both. The inning ended harmlessly with a flyout to center.
For those paying extra close attention, the Tigers also had 0 hits to this point in the ballgame. It was a real pitchers duel! That continued into the fifth as Perez and Dingler both had hard ground outs to first. Meadows worked a full-count walk before Javy dunked one into right field to break up the no-hitter. Meadows took third on the play; Sweeney then walked to load the bases for Keith. Unfortunately, Keith struck out and the bases were left loaded.
Skubal continued doing Skubal things and struck out Martinez to start the 5th. A quick groundout preceded a hard lineout to center that saw Meadows jump into the wall. Skubal had 7 strikeouts and 62 pitches through 5 innings, and the Kwan single was the only base runner so far.
Williams had rediscovered his command during his break. He jammed Vierling, then got Greene to fly out to left field. Torkelson struck out on Williams’ 98th pitch. His day looked over with 6 strong innings, only 1 hit allowed, and 8 strikeouts.
Skubal came back out and got two quick outs. Who else but Kwan then dunked a blooper behind second base for Cleveland’s second hit of the night, and man, he’s good at baseball. Skubal had had enough and struck out Fry to send things to the 7th inning.
Hunter Gaddis, one of Cleveland’s many buzzsaw relievers, came on for the 7th. Perez, Dingler and Meadows went 1-2-3 for a quick inning. Perez struck out, making 8 total on the night through 7 innings.
Skubal came out in the 7th inning emptying the tank. He got an easy flyout from Ramirez, then struck out Santana on 99 down the middle. He hung a changeup for a double, then battled back to K Rodriguez, too. At 93 pitches, it seemed likely his day was done with 7 innings, 10 strikeouts, and 3 hits. A gentle reminder this was his worst start of the year against Cleveland.
Gaddis came back out to get Baez and Sweeney to start the 8th inning. After that, lefty Erik Sabrowski came in to face Keith; naturally, AJ Hinch countered with a pinch hitter and up to bat came Torres. He walked and it’s good to see him feeling totally fine after that collision. Vierling then walked too, and it was up to Greene to cash in. He did not, striking out on a fastball at the knees.
Bailey Horn came in for Skubal looking to keep Cleveland off the board. It was a full-on battle of the bullpens at this point. He struck out Wilson on 3 pitches, but an 0-2 single to Hedges added some intrigue. Daniel Schneemann came in as a pinch runner. He then walked Rocchio, and somehow there were two runners on for Kwan. Really awful start to the inning that just goes to show how badly they need bullpen help right now. Horn getting leverage innings is basically inexcusable, especially after Mize went 7.
On cue, Kwan doubled into the right field corner to score one. Hinch pulled Horn in favor of Chase Lee, who inherits 2 on, 1 out, and a guaranteed at-bat by Ramirez. Kyle Manzardo pinch-hit for Fry to keep the platoon advantage. Lee struck out Manzardo, intentionally walked Ramirez to load the bases, and then popped up Santana to get out of it entirely. Fantastic escape job, but it really makes you ask why they didn’t just start with Lee.
The Tigers had the unenviable task of scoring a run against Emmanual Clase. He hasn’t been as dominant as he was in 2024, but he’s still a tier-one closer. He hit Torkelson on a two-strike cutter to put the leadoff man on. Perez flew out for the first out. McKinstry came on for Torkelson, stole 2nd, was called out, and then immediately had the play challenged and overturned. It was now runner on 2nd, 1, out. Dingler’s grounder up the middle was knocked down for an out; McKinstry advanced to third. Meadows quickly went down to two strikes, but a wild pitch on a slider down scored McKinstry to tie the game!
Lee came back for the ninth inning and was greeted with a leadoff double. Oh no. Meadows tracked down a popup for the first out. A groundout to first moved the runner over to 3rd with two outs, and then a liner to Javy was caught to end the inning. That’s a huge inning for Lee to send the Tigers to extras.
Cade Smith took over for Clase and Meadows started at second for bonus baseball. Baez blooped the first pitch into right for the Tigers’ 2nd hit of the game – both from him, I’ll note – but Meadows had to hold up at third. It didn’t matter, though, as Trey Sweeney suddenly lined one over the wall in left field and off the foul pole for a THREE RUN HOME RUN.
It’s 4-1 Tigers and they kept it going, with Torres reaching on an error. The error mattered, as Vierling doubled into the corner; Torres scored and Vierling took third on the throw home. Then Greene went yard to left field, too, making it 7-1 in a disastrous inning for Smith. He settled down to get McKinstry; Perez added injury to insult with a line drive off his torso. Smith then left the game, having allowed 6 runs in one-third of an inning and a runner on first. Jakob Junis came on and got the two outs to stop the bleeding, but Cleveland was in a 6 run hole.
The outburst allowed Hinch to save Will Vest, who had been warming in the bullpen. Instead, Carlos Hernandez came on looking to have a quiet inning. A leadoff groundout moved the Manfred Man to third. Then Kwan lined out to center for a sac fly and 2 outs. Another groundout ended the game and Detroit stole a win away from Cleveland here.
That makes 57 wins, the most in baseball and a sweep over Cleveland. The Tigers hold a 13 game lead over second place Minnesota, while the Guardians have crumbled to dust with a 10 game losing streak and are now 15.5 games back. Detroit heads home for a 3 game set against Tampa Bay, then 3 more against Seattle before the All Star Break.