PHILADELPHIA -- In a matchup of two of the best pitchers in baseball, Tarik Skubal proved to be the ace of spades.
Detroit’s sensational left-hander outdueled Philadelphia right-hander Zack Wheeler, striking out 10 and walking none in seven strong innings, to lead the Tigers to a 7-5 victory in a meeting between division leaders on Saturday afternoon.
“I thought I competed well today,” said Skubal, who celebrated the birth of his second son, Klay, this week. “We won. At the end of the day, that’s the goal of the game.”
The Tigers’ bats provided plenty of support, too.
Javier Báez homered, tripled, and drove in four runs; Colt Keith homered and had three hits; Wenceel Pérez recorded three singles; and Gleyber Torres and Kerry Carpenter also went deep.
Some of the Tigers’ runs, however, came after the main event of Skubal vs. Wheeler had ended.
Using a four-seam fastball that eclipsed 99 mph at times, along with a changeup in the high 80’s, Skubal (11-3) overwhelmed or confused Philadelphia’s potent lineup until a few hiccups in the seventh.
By then, the Tigers had pestered Wheeler (9-5) into elevating his pitch count early in the game, forcing him to exit without getting an out in the seventh.
It might not have been the shutdown performances that many expected from Skubal and Wheeler, but it was still high theater.
“I love these matchups,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “You have two good teams, two big boys on the mound. There’s a lot to like about the environment today, the players that are playing, and the opportunity to play a really good game.”
Hinch stressed beforehand the importance of taking an early lead because of the stinginess of each pitcher. Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, entered with a 2.09 ERA while Wheeler, last season’s NL Cy Young runner-up, began with a 2.56 mark.
“I think it’s always important to play from ahead,” Hinch said. “I think when you face someone like Wheeler, it’s even greater.”
Pérez set the tone for Detroit as the second batter in the second inning, fouling off four pitches–including three with a 3-2 count–in a nine-pitch at-bat that ended with a single.
“You’re not going to get a ton of opportunities against Wheeler on most nights, but we did make him work,” Hinch said.
After Wheeler labored through 37 pitches in two scoreless innings, the Tigers pounced on him in the third with a pair of solo home runs to right field by Keith and Carpenter. Keith drove a first-pitch, 96 mph four-seam fastball.
“Just trying to get a pitch I like, a pitch I can do damage on, and drive it,” he said.
Skubal, meantime, was baffling Phillies batters.
After getting the first six outs via strikeout, Skubal retired 10 in a row from the start of the third until Weston Wilson’s one-out double in the sixth that was Philadelphia’s second hit. But Skubal got Trea Turner to ground out, and left fielder Riley Greene ended the scoring threat with a stellar diving catch in foul territory on the warning track just in front of the covered tarp for the third out.
“We’ve seen Riley do this a lot,” Hinch said. “He’s a good defender. He’s going to complete the play and finish the play.”
Wheeler needed 95 pitches to get through six innings, and Phillies manager Rob Thomson sent him out to start the seventh. Three pitches later, he was lifted after Dillon Dingler reached first on Otto Kemp’s fielding error at third base and scored on Báez’s two-run shot to left. Torres made it 5-0 with a solo drive against Tanner Banks.
The five-run cushion would prove important as the Phillies scored three runs on three hits in the bottom of the frame, highlighted by former Tiger Nick Castellanos’ two-run homer. Skubal ended up throwing 98 pitches and allowing three runs on five hits while raising his American League-leading strikeout total to 181.
“The seventh kind of puts a sour taste in your mouth,” Skubal said.
His performance still drew praise.
“A lot of fun to play against and compete against,” Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper said. “But he had our number today."
Things got a little dicey in the eighth for the Tigers when Harper’s two-run shot off Will Vest closed the margin to 7-5. But Kyle Finnegan, the former Nationals closer making his Tigers debut after he was acquired at the Trade Deadline, got Castellanos to ground out for the final out before recording his 21st save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
The impressive performance by Finnegan completed a feel-good win over Wheeler and the Phillies -- although maybe not exactly as expected.
“Baseball is funny that way,” Hinch said. “Stick around in baseball and you’ll see some fun things.”