Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal shreds 107-loss Athletics with 10 strikeouts in 7-3 win

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Athletics were no match for Tarik Skubal.

Skubal, a hard-throwing left-hander, spammed his changeup throughout Thursday's game to take down a weak lineup loaded with right-handed hitters. The 26-year-old tossed seven scoreless innings in the Detroit Tigers' 7-3 win over the Athletics — possessors of the worst record in baseball, at 46-107 — in the first of four games in the series at the Oakland Coliseum.

"The full year, I've felt pretty confident in those two pitches," Skubal said of his changeup and four-seam fastball. "The velocity is there. The separation is there. The execution has been pretty good. I'll take it, stick to the course and continue to get better at it, but I like where it's at."

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The Tigers (72-81) posted quality plate appearances and took advantage of mistakes from MLB's cellar-dwellers, resulting in seven runs on nine hits and three walks. Skubal received a 2-0 lead in the first inning, then a 5-0 lead in the fifth inning.

He continued to throw his changeup, over and over and over again.

"Particular lineups that are going to have to get on the heater in order to beat him, he can go to something different," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "Sometimes it's spin, sometimes it's changeup. The more he can have multiple weapons, the better he's going to be. He stayed with it tonight. He was completely dominant."

Skubal entered Thursday's game with a 22.7% changeup usage this season. Facing the Athletics, though, Skubal ripped changeups for 32 of his 87 pitches for a 36.8% rate that's the highest of any of his 74 big-league appearances.

"This team as a whole wants to hit fastballs early in counts," Skubal said. "I got nine righties tonight, and I was executing (the changeup) really well. ... (Catcher Jake) Rogers has great feel back there. He felt like that was working, so I'm like, 'Yeah, let's keep doing that.' There's no point in throwing anything else."

He put his changeup on display from the onset of his 14th start of 2023. He doubled up on changeups to Esteury Ruiz in the exact same location, below the strike zone, in the first inning. The A's leadoff hitter whiffed at both of them for a strikeout.

It was the first of Skubal's 10 strikeouts.

Two batters later, Brent Rooker struck out swinging at a down-and-away changeup to end the first inning.

Skubal faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings, and just 22 batters through seven innings. Singles from Aledmys Diaz (in the second inning) and Jordan Diaz (in the third inning) were erased by inning-ending double plays from Carlos Perez and Nick Allen, respectively.

"That's what you want," Skubal said. "You get ahead in the count, and if you can punch them out, you punch them out, but if you can't, you get the double plays."

In the fourth inning, Skubal went away from the changeup-heavy approach in his second matchup with Ruiz, the A's leadoff man. He showed him two sliders, one knuckle curve and one sinker in the four-pitch rematch, ending in a groundout.

Ruiz, who leads the American League with 61 stolen bases, is dangerous when he gets on base, which finally happened in the seventh inning. A five-pitch walk to Ruiz ended Skubal's streak of 11 batters retired in a row, but he didn't let the speedy center fielder advance into scoring position.

Skubal threw 61 of 87 pitches for strikes.

In addition to his 32 changeups, Skubal threw 24 four-seam fastballs (27.6%), 14 sinkers (16.1%), 12 sliders (13.8%) and five knuckle curves (5.7%). His 14 whiffs were recorded with nine changeups, three fastballs, one sinker and one slider. The A's, meanwhile, had a 80.7 mph average exit velocity.

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The race to seven runs

Athletics right-hander Luis Medina, a 24-year-old rookie, gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts. He fell behind 2-0 in the first inning to the Tigers, who were jumpstarted by Matt Vierling's leadoff double.

Vierling advanced to third base on Zach McKinstry's flyout and scored when Spencer Torkelson grounded into a fielder's choice featuring a wide throw home by Allen, the shortstop. Torkelson advanced to second on the poor throw, then scored on a two-out triple — a ball misplayed by Ruiz in center field — by Andy Ibáñez for a 2-0 advantage.

"The team that makes the least amount of mistakes win the game," Vierling said. "Being able to take advantage of the extra 90 feet is huge. I thought it was great, and I really think that's how we can play. Fast, athletic and take advantage."

The Tigers tacked on three runs in the fifth inning with Vierling's single, McKinstry's double and Medina's balk. Vierling reached third base on McKinstry's double, paused to check the throw from right field and raced home because of Rooker's wild throw to the infield.

The balk with runners on the corners brought home McKinstry for a 5-0 lead. The Tigers increased the lead to 7-0 with a two-run eighth inning. Three players — Vierling, Carpenter and Ibáñez — collected two hits.

"We ran the bases aggressively," Hinch said. "We got fortunate with a couple of mistakes. We didn't let them off the hook when that happened. There were a couple at-bats that we would have back to break the game open even more, but it's hard to argue with the success of taking control of the game and letting our big boy handle the stuff on the mound."

Designated hitter Miguel Cabrera, with nine games remaining in the final season of his MLB career, departed after fouling a pitch off his lower leg in the sixth inning. The Tigers plan to put him in Friday's starting lineup.

Hanifee makes his MLB debut

Right-handed reliever Brenan Hanifee took over for Skubal in the eighth inning, making his MLB debut. He sent down six of the nine batters he faced, racking up two strikeouts in the process, to complete the final two innings.

The 25-year-old logged his first strikeout against Seth Brown, a left-handed pinch-hitter, for the second out in the eighth inning. He caught him looking at a sixth-pitch 94.6 mph sinker at the top of the strike zone.

"It was a perfect time for him," Hinch said. "Tarik was completely unselfish handing the ball to him and allowing him to make his major-league debut. We felt really good about it. Unfortunately, he gave up a couple of runs, but tonight will be a blur for him. He made it to the big leagues. He'll always be able to call himself a big leaguer."

The A's scored three runs off Hanifee in the ninth inning. Kevin Smith doubled, moved up to third base on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch, followed by Zach Gelof reaching on an infield single to McKinstry at third base. Rooker, the A's leader in home runs this season, then launched a two-run homer to center field.

Hanifee threw 29 of 38 pitches for strikes.

The Tigers called up Hanifee, who had a 4.38 ERA over 90⅓ innings in Triple-A Toledo, before Wednesday's series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He signed a minor-league contract in the offseason.

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 buzz through Oakland Athletics, 7-3