CLEVELAND — Tarik Skubal tied Detroit’s postseason record with 14 strikeouts and the Tigers beat the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 on Tuesday in Game 1 of their AL Wild Card Series.
Will Vest got the final four outs for Detroit, surviving a tense ninth inning after Cleveland star Jose Ramírez got hung up between third base and home for the second out.
The Tigers can advance to the AL Division Series for the second straight year with a win Wednesday.
Detroit scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning when Zach McKinstry’s safety squeeze scored Riley Greene from third.
Ramírez led off the ninth with an infield single and advanced to third when shortstop Javier Báez threw wide of first base. Vest struck out pinch-hitter George Valera, then Kyle Manzardo hit a grounder to Vest. Ramírez broke for home but was cut off by Vest, who chased him down and tagged him out.
“That ball’s two feet either way, he scores,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “It just happened to go right back to Vest. So we play aggressive. We always do. We run the bases aggressive. I wouldn’t play that any other way.”
C.J. Kayfus then hit a flyout to Báez in shallow left to end it.
Skubal, who is favored to win his second straight AL Cy Young Award, set a career high for strikeouts. He was dominant and unfazed as he pitched on the same mound where one week ago, he threw a 99 mph fastball that struck Cleveland designated hitter David Fry in the nose and face during the sixth inning.
The right-hander went 7 2/3 innings and threw 107 pitches, one off his career high, including 73 strikes. He allowed one run on only three hits, with two being infield singles, and walked three. His fastball averaged 99.1 mph, 1.6 mph above his season average.
Skubal outdueled Cleveland starter Gavin Williams, who was just as effective but hurt by a pair of Guardians errors. Williams allowed two unearned runs in six-plus innings on five hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.
Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Kerry Carpenter scored on Spencer Torkelson’s two-out bloop single to left field. Carpenter got aboard on a base hit to right but advanced to second on a fielding error by Johnathan Rodríguez.
The Guardians finally got to Skubal in the fourth by not having a ball leave the infield.
Angel Martínez hit a slow grounder between Skubal and second baseman Gleyber Torres to lead off the inning. He advanced to second on Ramírez’s walk.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Gabriel Arias hit a high chopper over Skubal. The ball landed on the infield grass between the mound and second base. Skubal fielded the ball as Martinez rounded third. Martinez’s left hand touched the plate before Detroit catcher Dillon Dingler applied the tag.
Martinez was originally ruled out on the head-first slide, but it was overturned by instant replay to tie the game at 1.
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