Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal shuts down Kansas City Royals in 4-1 win

Tarik Skubal sent down 20 of the first 23 batters he faced.

The first two batters reached safely in the first inning, which led to a run. Skubal then responded by retiring 14 batters in a row before an infield single in the fifth inning, and after the harmless single, he cooked through six batters in a row.

The Detroit Tigers were in control for all nine innings, thanks to Skubal's steady dominance, in Sunday's 4-1 win over the the Kansas City Royals, taking two of three games in the series at Comerica Park.

After retiring 20 of his first 23 batters, Skubal ran into trouble against his final three batters with two outs in the seventh inning. He walked Hunter Renfroe on five pitches and gave up a two-strike single to Dairon Blanco, but he escaped when Garrett Hampson flew out to right field to end the inning.

Skubal screamed — "Let's go!" — on his way back to the dugout.

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He provided the Tigers (16-12) with seven innings of one-run ball on four hits and one walk with six strikeouts, throwing 91 pitches. In six starts, Skubal owns a 1.72 ERA with six walks and 41 strikeouts across 36⅔ innings.

The Tigers supported Skubal with three runs in the first two innings, including a two-run home run from rookie Wenceel Pérez. But the series finale against the Royals belonged to Skubal, who battled through the first few innings before his elite changeup put him in cruise control.

He struck out the first two batters in the seventh inning with changeups.

Both batters went down swinging.

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Skubal was incredibly efficient, throwing 16 pitches in the first inning, 12 pitches in the second, eight in the third, eight in the fourth, 16 in the fifth, 10 in the sixth and 21 in the seventh.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead with the first two batters in the first inning, as Maikel Garcia skipped a bouncer past third baseman Matt Vierling and into left field for a double. Bobby Witt Jr. followed by hitting a tough two-strike down-and-away changeup into center field for an RBI single.

After that, the Royals were silenced by Skubal.

He generated 16 whiffs on 47 swings — for a 34% whiff rate — with 11 changeups, three fastballs, one sinker and one curveball. His fastball averaged 96.9 mph, and his changeup was electric.

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Wenceel Pérez hits first MLB homer

The Tigers scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, taking a 2-1 lead.

Pérez, in his 13th MLB game, blasted the first home run of his career off right-hander Michael Wacha's middle-up changeup. He hammered the changeup 368 feet to right field with a 103.1 mph exit velocity.

The rookie smiled as he rounded the bases.

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The Tigers made it 3-1 with Riley Greene's sacrifice fly in the second inning.

Jake Rogers, who has six hits and two walks with just three strikeouts in his past five games, increased the lead to 4-1 in the sixth inning with a solo home run. He chased Wacha from his start by shooting his middle-middle sinker to right-center field.

It was Rogers' second homer of the season.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal shuts down Kansas City Royals in 4-1 win