Spencer Torkelson's 2-run blast gives Detroit Tigers a 2-1 win over Kansas City Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal accomplished everything he was supposed to in his second start of the season, a much-needed bounce-back performance.

He fired 16 first-pitch strikes to the 22 hitters he faced, posted a 72.2% strike rate, mixed his pitches masterfully, produced seven strikeouts and exited his outing in the sixth inning with zero earned runs.

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But the Tigers trailed until the seventh, when Spencer Torkelson launched his second MLB home run. With Miguel Cabrera on second base, the 22-year-old tagged a sinker from Royals starter Brad Keller for a 432-foot two-run shot to left field.

The combination of Skubal's outing, Cabrera's 599th double and Torkelson's two-out big fly unlocked a 2-1 win for the Tigers on Friday night in the second of four games at Kauffman Stadium.

The Tigers (4-4) couldn't reward Skubal with a win for his strong outing because of Keller, who nearly posted seven scoreless innings and was untouchable for most of the evening. Keller finished with seven frames of two-run ball on three hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

Had it not been for Torkelson's homer, the Tigers would have been blanked. Skubal conceded one run in the fourth inning, though it was an unearned run because of shortstop Harold Castro's error.

Maintaining a 2-1 lead, right-handed relievers Joe Jimenez and Michael Fulmer pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings. Fulmer logged his first save of the season, after earning 14 of them last year.

Skubal diving

Skubal cruised through the first 11 batters he faced, sending them down in order. He got ahead 0-2 against Salvador Perez with two outs in the fourth, but the at-bat resulted in a single.

Perez hit a 1-2 slider for a grounder into left field, as the ball deflected off Castro's glove. On the next play, Andrew Benintendi reached safely on a fielding error by Castro, putting two runners on.

Then, Carlos Santana singled on a line drive to right field, putting the Royals ahead 1-0.

Before the fourth, Skubal had tallied six strikeouts in his first three innings.

The 25-year-old worked around a two-out single from Nicky Lopez in the fifth and returned for the sixth. He retired Bobby Witt Jr., allowed a double to Salvador Perez and got Benintendi to ground out.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch removed Skubal from his start with Santana, a switch-hitter due up and Perez on third base. Santana hits better against lefties than righties, so Hinch replaced Skubal with righty reliever Jacob Barnes.

Barnes ended the inning with two pitches.

For Skubal's 90 pitches (65 strikes), he used 35 sliders (39%), 20 four-seam fastballs (22%), 19 sinkers (21%), nine curveballs (10%) and seven changeups (8%). He racked up 12 swings and misses: six sliders, one four-seamer, three curves and two changeups. He also had 15 called strikes, including nine sliders.

His slider averaged 88.8 mph — 2.3 mph faster than last season's average. Skubal rarely threw his slider in his first outing, turning to the offering for six of his 79 pitches against the Chicago White Sox. Skubal also turned up the heat — by 4 mph — on his curve.

His fastball averaged 95.1 mph, maxing out at 97.3 mph.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers beat Kansas City Royals, 2-1, on Tork bomb