Skubal schools Phillies in star-studded pitching matchup

DETROIT -- Tarik Skubal's journey to a potential All-Star appearance has included a fair share of pitching duels with fellow aces, from Minnesota’s Pablo López (win in April) and Kansas City’s Cole Ragans (loss in May) to Atlanta’s Reynaldo López (loss six days ago).

So matching up opposite Philadelphia’s Ranger Suárez on Tuesday night at Comerica Park was nothing new. To win that duel was.

“That’s one of the better performances we’ve seen this year,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I mean, [Skubal’s] got really good stuff. He comes right after you. He throws strikes. Secondary pitches, real good. The heater gets on you. …

“He’s got really good stuff. He should be an All-Star.”

It’s not just that Skubal shut down the Phillies’ dangerous offense for seven innings in a 4-1 Tigers win. Maybe more important was how Detroit’s mercurial offense handed Suárez his toughest start of a stellar season with one big inning.

“We were facing one of the best pitchers around the league, but also we were facing one of the best teams around the league,” said Andy Ibáñez, whose two-run single broke open a four-run fifth inning. “They hit a lot. So having a collective outing like this, it was amazing. Seeing Tarik have the performance he did today was amazing.”

Skubal, as good as he has been, can’t do anything for the Tigers’ approach against Suárez except get them back up to bat as quickly as possible. He did his part in that, sending down 13 of his final 14 batters in order and keeping Detroit in a scoreless game for 4 1/2 innings.

After giving up four earned runs in back-to-back outings at Houston and at Atlanta, both shutout losses, Skubal followed Casey Mize’s lead from Monday’s series opener and used the Phillies’ aggressiveness against them.

Skubal’s highlight pitch was a 100.7 mph fastball that he blew by Kyle Schwarber for a third-inning strikeout. But his changeup, which Atlanta hitters attacked last week for three hits, drew 11 of his 19 swinging strikes.

“This is a good lineup,” Skubal said. “Doesn’t matter who you are, they’re going to hit you around a little bit, so I kind of matched that aggressiveness that they have with my own.”

Unlike in Atlanta, the Phillies’ four balls in play off Skubal’s changeup averaged just 65.5 mph in exit velocity, slower than most of the traffic driving by the ballpark on Interstate 75.

“Anytime a pitcher comes up against us, it’s a challenge,” former Tiger Nick Castellanos said. “And he was ready for it.”

That’s as much a credit to Skubal’s other pitches. His 22 called strikes were spread across his five-pitch arsenal, including two on curveballs and seven on two-seam fastballs. His fastball command was markedly improved from last start.

“His sinker spin and his changeup spin look very similar,” catcher Jake Rogers said, “so that’s tough for a hitter to pick up.”

Skubal’s game let Detroit’s hitters stick to their plan against Suárez: Don’t try to launch against the sinkerballer, just try to get solid contact. While the Tigers have roughed up pitchers for big games this month, they had struggled to create offense against starters on their game like Suárez, who took an MLB-best 1.75 ERA into the matchup.

“Before the game, we made a decision: All of us had to focus on the middle of the field, just a little bit to the left, but focus on the middle,” Ibáñez said. “So basically my at-bats, just focus on hitting the ball all the time to the middle of the field.”

Suárez kept pace with Skubal for four innings, pounding Tigers hitters into seven ground-ball outs. But back-to-back line-drive singles off secondary pitches -- Justyn-Henry Malloy off a 2-2 curveball, Rogers off a first-pitch changeup -- created the scoring chance.

Ryan Kreidler, who bunted his way on his first time up, tried twice to lay down a sacrifice bunt. In a 1-2 hole, he stayed alive to get just enough of a changeup off the corner for a slow roller that shortstop Trea Turner couldn’t handle.

With the bases loaded and none out, Matt Vierling’s groundout drove in Detroit’s first run. Ibáñez’s ground ball through the middle put the Tigers in command.

“We know that he throws a lot of sinkers and he gets a lot of ground balls because of his sinker,” Ibáñez said, “so we were waiting for that.”

Skubal (9-3) allowed three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.32. Suárez (10-2) yielded a season-high nine hits while his ERA rose to 2.01.