Tigers 8, Twins 2: A low-stress win is apparently possible

The Tigers won a came comfortably. Wait, is that even allowed? We’ll check and get back to you.

For everyone who hadn’t already floated away from all this rain we’re getting in the Great Lakes region, they were able to see the Tigers finally take on the Twins in what, after Thursday’s rainout, was the opener of a four-game, now-three-day weekend series in Detroit.

After another rain delay of about an hour — seriously, can’t the government stop this or something? — and the wind blowing out, the Tigers really didn’t the ball too hard all evening but they won easily, 8-2.

Tarik Skubal made his third start for the Tigers in 2024, and his previous pair of performances could’ve been titled A Tale of Two Tariks. The season starter in Chicago saw him spin six shutout innings, strike out a half-dozen, and walk nobody. His second assignment, at home against the lowly Philadelphia Kansas City Oakland Sacramento Las Vegas A’s was great for five innings until things fell apart in the sixth and seventh, including serving up a pair of dingers. So, for the first eleven innings he was sensational, the next one-plus was a slog. Who’d show up today, then?

Getting the nod for the Twinkies was Pablo López, who is now established as the Twins ace after spending six years in Miami. López was consistently good-to-excellent last year in his first with Minnesota, finishing seventh in AL Cy Young voting and earning his first All-Star nod to boot. He keeps the home runs down and strikes out a ton of guys, but will give up a walk now and then. The righty has been especially tough on right-handed batters, holding their OPS to .641 over his career, vs. a still-respectable .747 against left-handed batters.

Mark Canha got a hold of a sinker in the bottom of the first and got it up into the outward-blowing wind for a solo home run, putting Detroit up 1-0.

In the second and third, Skubal felt like he was getting squeezed on tight calls by home plate umpire Adam Beck. After striking out Carlos Correa looking on a changeup to end the third, Skubal gestured with his arms out as if to say, “C’mon, man, give me a break here.” Jake Rogers made sure Skubal didn’t say something he’d immediately regret, guiding him to the home dugout without further incident.

(Correa strained his right oblique during that at-bat, and he had to leave the game. That guy’s pretty snake-bit with injuries. Hope he’s alright.)

Javier Báez may not be doing much at the plate, but ol’ El Mago can get ‘er done in the field.

Skubal looked a little out-of-sorts at times, with some inconsistencies in his delivery. The Twins were fouling-off tons of pitches, driving up the pitch count to 77 after four innings. He was touching triple-digits with his fastball early, with that speed tapering-off as the game wore on, but not drastically so.

Leading off the bottom of the fourth, Spencer Torkelson walked, and took third on a Kerry Carpenter single. Gio Urshela hit a grounder to Old Friend™ Willi Castro at shortstop, who took over for Correa, allowing Torkelson to score and the Tigers led 2-0.

Another leadoff walk in the fifth, this time by Rogers, was cashed in three pitches later by a Riley Greene double to push the lead to 3-0. Canha walked, then Torkelson followed with an opposite-field single on a down-and-away fastball to drive in Greene.

That put Detroit up 4-0 and chased López from the game in favour of the colourfully-named Kody Funderburk. Matt Vierling then blooped one into right field to score Canha for a five-run lead because, blooper or scorcher, seeing-eye grounder or bad-hopper, they all get the job done, don’t they?

(I think Kody Funderburk and Charlie Furbush would’ve made a nice 1-2 combination out of the bullpen.)

Skubal’s day was done after five innings. He didn’t have his best stuff, but he didn’t allow a run, gave up a pair of singles and a pair of walks, and struck out five. Alex Faedo took over and had his slider working right away. If he can be a multi-inning shutdown arm out of that bullpen, my goodness, what a weapon on a night like this (and with a doubleheader coming up).

Canha struck again in the sixth, poking a single to right, scoring Rogers and making it an even half-dozen; a Torkelson infield-single dribbler made it Lucky Seven. You could count the hard-hit balls on your fingers, but hey, the scoreboard doesn’t lie. I believe around here we used to call those things “Twinshits” (i.e., “Twins hits”), so now the shoe’s on the other foot, isn’t it?

In the bottom of the eighth, Wenceel Pérez walked with one out to reach base for the first time in his major-league career. Vierling followed with a single, and Pérez absolutely flew around the bases to make it 8-0, at which point Minnesota could insert a position-player to pitch… so, Willi Castro moved from shortstop to the mound to get the final out of the inning.

Will Vest finished things up for the Tigers in the ninth, giving up a meaningless pair of runs, spoiling the shutout. But, whatever, the Tigers won, so hooray!

Can’t Say I Disagree

Radio guys tonight, discussing a team of which everyone’s sick:

Dickerson: “The Astros … starting the season at 4-and-10.”

Monroe: [starts giggling]

Dickerson: [starts giggling]

Notes and Numbers

• Coming into today’s game, the average American League team’s OPS was .688. Where’s Detroit, you might hesitantly ask? If you guessed fourth-last with .622, you’d be right.
• Know who’s at the top of the American League in OPS? If you had the Kansas City Royals on your bingo card, you’re the big winner; after a baker’s-dozen of games it was sitting at a robust .771. They also lead the league in home runs with 17, after their three-game beat-down of the Astros this week.
• Bobby Witt Jr. has had four of those home runs so far, and his OPS is north of 1.100. Plus he plays a stellar shortstop. They’ve really got a good one there, those Royals do.
• Parker Meadows got the ol’ Golden Sombrero today.
• Is there any way to permanently hide the perpetually distracting fielder-position doohickey on the left side of the screen on GameDay? Grrr.
• Addie Joss was born on this day in 1880. He pitched for Cleveland in the early 1900s, throwing a perfect game and a no-hitter, with a lifetime WHIP under 1 (even though it was the deadball era, that’s still solid). He constantly struggled with health problems, though: he missed a month in one season with a “high fever,” and the next season he came down with malaria. He died just before the 1911 season of bacterial meningitis at the age of 30.