Tarik Skubal earns 17th win as Tigers beat Royals 4-2
Tarik Skubal allowed three hits over five innings for his 17th win and the streaking Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Wednesday night to move within a half game of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining
Ozuna homers Urshela drives in 3 as Braves beat Reds 7-1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- — Tarik Skubal allowed three hits over five innings for his 17th win and the streaking Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Wednesday night to move within a half game of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining.
Riley Greene hit a go-ahead home run as the Tigers (80-73) won their fourth straight and ninth in the last 11 games. With the series sweep, Detroit won for the 25th time in 35 games to move within a half game of Minnesota (80-72) for the third AL wild-card spot.
“These guys, first of all we believe, and second we come every day to try to win the game, and we are winning a lot, which is fun to watch these guys learn and grow and compete until the end of the game,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.
Skubal (17-4), who has won his last five decisions, made his case for the AL Cy Young Award stronger by matching Atlanta’s Chris Sale for the major league lead in wins and lowered his AL-leading earned run average to 2.48. He walked one and struck out seven.
“Really proud of the guys. Last time we came here we were on the other side of the sweep,” Skubal said. “We’ve got a great group, a resilient group. I mean if you just look at the season that we’ve had, I think it shows in this series.”
Skubal had struggled against the Royals in the past, entering Wednesday with a 2-9 record and 5.05 ERA in 12 starts over 14 appearances. After allowing three hits and Yuli Gurriel’s two-out RBI single in the first inning, he threw four hitless innings.
“We put some good at-bats on him early, but once he got the runs, five of the next six hitters were 0-2 counts. He’s coming after us,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Skubal. “But that’s how he pitches. He’s not picking at the corners. He’s got elite stuff and he knows it.”
Skubal screamed after striking out Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez with two on for his final out in the fifth.
“For me it’s always about executing pitches,” Skubal said. “If I can execute pitches at a high clip, I like my chances against anybody, no matter how many times they’ve seen me."
Hinch was happy to see his ace battle through 95 pitches though he wasn’t as sharp as his previous starts.
“It was a big fight for him, but he did a great job,” Hinch said. “Sometimes five is enough, and he did his job by getting the biggest out against his biggest nemesis and showed a ton of emotion. ... If he somehow isn’t able to make pitches to Salvy, who has been good against him, this game’s completely different. He’s our guy. We needed our guy to do his part, and he did."
The Royals (82-71), who lost their fourth straight, were swept for the first time at home this season and the third time overall. They remained 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot and 1 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota for the second wild card. The Orioles and Twins both lost earlier Wednesday.
Skubal struck out major league batting leader Bobby Witt Jr. twice before hitting him with a pitch in the fifth. Witt, who became the first player in major league history with multiple seasons of 30 home runs and 30 steals in his first three seasons Tuesday, broke Hal McRae’s 1977 franchise record with his 87th extra-base hit of the season with a bloop double to lead off the eighth.
Perez then drove in Witt with a single off reliever Brenan Hanifee. Sean Guenther preserved the 4-2 lead with a double play and a fly out. Guenther got the first out of the ninth and Will Vest got the final two for his second save.
Royals starter Alec Marsh (8-9), coming off a career-high 11 strikeouts in his last start, lasted only 2 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks.
Perez and Gurriel, who is hitting .385 since the Royals acquired him from Atlanta, each had two hits for the Royals.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: Rookie 3B Colt Keith is day to day after reinjuring his right shoulder in Tuesday’s game on a diving attempt in the field. He has had a right shoulder problem in three straight seasons. He did not play Wednesday, but Hinch said he would hit in the batting cage during the game. “It could have been much worse,” Hinch said.
UP NEXT
Tigers: Detroit has not announced a starter for Friday’s series opener at Baltimore.
Royals: RHP Michael Wacha (13-7, 3.29) is scheduled to start Friday’s home series opener against San Francisco. Wacha is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in nine career starts against the Giants and 7-2 with a 2.87 ERA this season at home.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Dylan Cease pitched brilliantly into the ninth inning and Manny Machado Fernando Tatis Jr and Donovan Solano hit consecutive homers in the eighth for the San Diego Padres who beat the AL West-leading Houston Astros 4-0 on Wednesday
Marcell Ozuna homered Gio Urshela drove in three runs and Spencer Schwellenbach pitched six innings of one-run ball as the Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-1 on Wednesday night
Tyler Soderstrom homered and Zack Gelof hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning as the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago Cubs 5-3 on Wednesday putting the Milwaukee Brewers in the playoffs
The Avs don t have a timeline for the return of Gabriel Landeskog knee or Artturi Lehkonen shoulder but they are without Val Nichushkin suspension until mid-November
Want to know what fights are on the horizon Check out the boxing schedule for 2024
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The story behind Nebraska’s light show and drone display? LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - This Friday marks Nebraska's third consecutive prime
time game, and fans can't stop talking about the light show and
Heavy traffic anticipated in Lincoln for Friday night kickoff, 400th sellout? With a rare FridayNo. 400: Former Husker returns for historic milestone at Memorial Stadium? Noel Martin, a member of the 1962 Huskers, played a pivotal role in the
game that started Nebraska's sellout streak.
Pat Bryant catches 2 TDs, Ethan Moczulski kicks a school-record field goal
as Illinois beats CMU? CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Luke Altmyer threw for 242 yards and two touchdowns,
both to Pat Bryant, to lead Illinois to a 30-9 win over Central Michigan
on
Sights and sounds from Illinois' homecoming win? Illinois homecoming is a whole weekend affair, so take a closer look at the
spirit and excitement that fueled the Fighting Illini's win overThe Trench Report: Central Michigan? Steve Sturm, IlliniGuys Football Analyst September 15, 2024 It was a bit of
"meh" win for Illinois on Saturday over Central Michigan.
Cole dominates for 9, Yankees beat A's in 10? OAKLAND -- This time, there were no intentional walks to interrupt Gerrit
Cole's sparkling performance. Cole bounced back from the
Gerrit Cole and Juan Soto lead the Yankees past the Athletics 4-2 in 10
innings? OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Gerrit Cole tuned up for the postseason by holding
the Athletics to one run in nine innings and Juan Soto came off