Rampaging Tigers, Skubal sweep Royals to move half-game out of playoffs

KANSAS CITY, Mo.– Tarik Skubal let out his trademark howl after ending the fifth, and his night, striking out his nemesis Salvador Perez to strand two runners.

He was so fired up, he knocked the glove off his right hand. And why wouldn’t he be? He had struck out seven and allowed only a first-inning run in his five innings Wednesday, finally quelling some of his demons at Kauffman Stadium.

He helped the rampaging Tigers win their fourth straight and complete their first sweep of the Royals in Kansas City since June of 2021. More importantly, they move another step closer to the final wild-card spot in the American League.

The Tigers’ 4-2 win over the Royals, coupled with the Twins’ gut-punch, 10th-inning loss to the Guardians in Cleveland, leaves them just a half-game out of that last spot.

How unreal is this? The Tigers were nine games under .500 on July 4. They traded away four veteran players at the deadline. They designated another for assignment. Their starting shortstop endured a season-ending hip injury. And yet, they have the best record in the American League (33-23) since the All-Star break and the best record in baseball (25-10) since Aug. 11.

Things got a little dicey in the eighth inning, especially with the Tigers' top leverage relievers (Jason Foley and Tyler Holton) unavailable.

Right-hander Brenan Hanifee replaced Skubal in the sixth and kept the Royals off the board for two innings. In the eighth inning, Bobby Witt, Jr., hit a pop up behind third base.

Shortstop Trey Sweeney and third baseman Zach McKinstry miscommunicated and the ball dropped for a double. Perez followed with an RBI single.

Manager AJ Hinch summoned lefty Sean Guenther for lefty pinch-hitter MJ Melendez. Royals manager Matt Quatraro countered with right-hander Freddy Fermin.

Guenther, on his second pitch, induced a 5-4-3 double-play and the Tigers survived the inning.

With lefty-swinging Michael Massey leading off the bottom of the ninth, Guenther stayed out. Spencer Torkelson helped him out, making a clutch diving catch going to his right.

Will Vest entered and got the final two outs with no drama.

This was a labor-intensive five innings for Skubal, who came in with a 1-5 record and an ERA north of 6.0 in his career at Kauffman.

And the way things started, it seemed like it be another one of those nights. The Royals nicked him with three ground-ball singles in the first inning to break on top 1-0.

Skubal responded by going into bully mode, attacking the Royals with four-seam fastballs 97 to 99 mph. And he did not allow another hit.

He threw 53 heaters and got 11 whiffs (on 31 swings) and 11 called strikes. He mixed 31 changeups (six whiffs on 14 swings).

Skubal struck out Witt, Jr., twice. He won a nine-pitch fight with him the third, finally punching him out with a 99-mph fastball.

He got himself into a little trouble in the fifth, hitting Witt with a two-strike fastball with two out. Garrett Hampson had reached earlier in the inning on an error by third baseman Zach McKinstry.

That brought Perez to the plate. He’s terrorized Skubal in his career, 10 for 27 with four home runs and he had one of the hits in the first inning.

But Skubal never let him get comfortable, mixing changeups and four-seamers. He finally got the strikeout throwing back-to-back 3-2 changeups, the last one dived to his back foot and Perez swung over top of it.

The offense had staked him to a 4-1 lead.

After the Tigers left five runners on base in the first two innings, Riley Greene decided to eliminate the runner-in-scoring-position at-bat.

Leading off the third, he shellacked a 93-mph fastball from Royals right-hander Alec Marsh. The ball flew 427 feet and landed beyond the bullpen in right field.

He had swung way too early on a changeup on the previous pitch. He could not have been more on time for the heater.

The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 112 mph. It was Greene’s 25th home run and it ignited a three-run inning.

After Spencer Torkelson walked and Jace Jung singled, Trey Sweeney lined a double inside the bag at first and both runs scored.

Third base coach Joey Cora aggressively sent Jung home and the throw beat him to the plate. Somehow, though, he was able to get his foot on the plate before catcher Perez could apply the tag.

That was the last time a Tigers' runner got close to home plate.

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