Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal dominates with 'a ton of life' in 5-3 win over Pirates

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3, on Wednesday at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Florida.

The Tigers improved to a 3-2-1 record in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Left-hander Tarik Skubal dominated in his first start of spring training, completing two scoreless innings with zero hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

He threw 19 of 29 pitches for strikes.

"When these guys only have two innings, especially starters, it's hard to work on anything but conditioning," manager A.J. Hinch said. "But Tarik did a good job of mixing pitches — changeups, sliders and fastballs. It was a good day for him."

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Skubal also received help from center fielder Parker Meadows, who tracked a deep fly ball from Jason Delay for the second out in the second inning. Meadows caught the ball on the warning track, just before the wall, but Skubal didn't watch the catch.

"I thought it was a homer," Skubal said. "He hit it, and I put my head down, and I just looked at our dugout."

Pitching coach Chris Fetter pumped his fist from the dugout, signifying an out.

"I looked back, and he was at the wall," said Skubal, who threw an elevated 97.7 mph sinker to Delay. "I thought that was a good pitch. I don't really know how he got to it."

The Tigers took the lead, 4-3, in the eighth inning when Anthony Bemboom, a catcher who signed a minor-league contract, turned on an inside slider from right-handed reliever Dauri Moreta for a solo home run to right field. Wenceel Pérez, a switch-hitter, increased the lead to 5-3 when he pulled a solo home run from the left side against Moreta's hanging slider.

Starting off

Skubal was critical of his performance.

He pointed to the third pitch of his outing. He worked ahead 0-2 in the count against Nick Gonzales, but instead of a strikeout, Gonzales grounded out. It was an 88 mph slider located in the middle-down quadrant of the strike zone.

"That's kind of a punch-out pitch there," said Skubal, wishing he struck out Gonzales. "There's some stuff to work on, for sure. But I felt good, body feels good. It felt like the ball had a ton of life."

Skubal finished with two strikeouts.

He struck out Jared Triolo, the second batter of his outing, with an 85.8 mph changeup after getting ahead 0-2 in the count. He struck out Gilberto Celestino, the fourth batter, with an 85.5 mph changeup to begin the second inning.

The only mistake Skubal made occurred against Ji Hwan Bae with two outs in the second inning, walking him on nine pitches. Bae fouled four pitches — including a 99.6 mph fastball — and checked his swing on a sixth-pitch down-and-away slider before taking Skubal's ninth-pitch slider below the strike zone for the walk.

Skubal enjoyed the lengthy battle.

"I thought he went on that slider, but whatever," Skubal said. "The last slider was a good take, honestly. Really good at-bat by him. The first-pitch curveball wasn't even competitive, and then at-bats change, 1-0, 2-0 versus 0-1, 0-2. But I like being in situations like that, so when it comes season time, it doesn't surprise you."

Skubal recorded six whiffs on 16 swings with three changeups, two fastballs and one slider.

At the plate

The Tigers grabbed a two-run lead in the eighth inning with a pair of solo home runs, but to get there, the Tigers tied the game by scoring one run in the fifth inning and two runs in the seventh inning.

Bligh Madris, a minor-league signing who has 51 games of MLB experience, unloaded on a 99.1 mph fastball from left-handed reliever Aroldis Chapman in the fifth inning, sending the ball off the batter's eye in center field. Madris, a left-handed hitting outfielder, put the Tigers on the scoreboard with the team's first hit.

A sacrifice fly from Keston Hiura drove in the Tigers' second run, followed by the third run on a double from Eddys Leonard, tying the score at three runs apiece. Those runs were set up by singles from Pérez and Justice Bigbie to open the seventh inning.

Bigbie took second base on his single because Pérez was aggressive going from first base to third base.

"We work on that stuff," Hinch said. "It starts with Wenceel going first to third. If he doesn't challenge the guy in his face with the ball in left center, then Bigbie can't make the secondary read, so it's a double good play."

Bigbie, who started in left field, finished 1-for-2 with one walk and one strikeout. He also made a good catch at the warning track on a ball in play to his left and behind him.

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The former 19th-round draft pick is hitting .333 across 10 plate appearances in four games. He climbed three levels in the minor leagues last season.

"You make good decisions at the plate and you combine that with power, you'll get yourself noticed," Hinch said of Bigbie. "He's hit his way to these opportunities. ... He makes good decisions, and he impacts the ball. That's a good foundation to start from."

On the mound

Right-handed reliever Alex Lange, who replaced Skubal, surrendered three runs in the third inning.

Lange walked Billy McKinney on six pitches to begin his appearance, falling behind 3-0 in the count. The next batter, Tsung-Che Cheng, blasted Lange's middle-middle 95.3 mph fastball for a two-run home run to center field.

Connor Joe tacked on a homer to left field, making it 3-0 Pirates.

After Lange's troubles, The Tigers posted zeros on the scoreboard despite command issues. Right-hander Mason Englert, left-hander Andrew Vasquez, and right-hander Trey Wingenter combined for five walks in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

All three pitches worked out of trouble.

Englert racked up four strikeouts across 2⅔ innings and tossed 20 of 37 pitches for strikes. He generated seven swings and misses, including two whiffs each from his slider and curveball.

"He was working fast, which is good because he kept his rhythm going where he could throw a ton of strikes," Hinch said of Englert. "His breaking ball was a lot better, especially against lefties. You just see the confidence growing as the outing went on."

Three stars

1. Skubal, 2. Madris, 3. Englert.

Next up

Thursday (1:05 p.m.) vs. Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers.

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 dominates in 5-3 win over Pirates