Tarek Skubal of the Detroit Tigers (29) achieved his first complete game shutout in his career.
On the 26th (Korea time), Skubal started the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, recording a complete game shutout with 9 innings, 2 hits allowed, 1 walk, and 13 strikeouts.
In the first inning, Skubal, who retired the Cleveland top lineup consisting of Ángel Martínez (Samjin) - Gabriel Arias (Samjin) - José Ramírez (pop fly to shortstop) in order, created another 1-2-3 inning against the powerful lineup of Rain Thomas (groundout to pitcher) - Kyle Manzardo (pop fly to right field) - Xzavion Noel (pop fly to left field) in the second inning.
Skubal also handled the lower order of Wil Wilson (pop fly to right field) - Austin Hedges (Samjin) - Nolan Jones (groundout to catcher) in the third inning. In the fourth inning, he once again threw a 1-2-3 inning against the same top lineup of Martínez (Samjin) - Arias (Samjin) - Ramírez (pop fly to center field).
With Detroit leading 5-0, Skubal perfectly shut down the powerful lineup of Thomas (Samjin) - Manzardo (pop fly to center field) - Noel (groundout to third base) in the fifth inning. However, in the sixth inning, he allowed Wilson to hit a double, ending his perfect game challenge. He struck out Hedges but hit Jones with a pitch. He induced Martínez into a 6-4-3 double play to escape the inning without allowing a run.
In the seventh inning, Skubal caught lead-off hitter Arias with a pop fly to third base, allowed a hit to Ramírez, but escaped the jam by striking out both Thomas and Manzardo. In the eighth inning, he neatly retired the lower order of Noel (Samjin) - Wilson (groundout to second base) - Hedges (Samjin).
In the ninth inning, Skubal returned to the mound and struck out lead-off hitter Jones and handled Martínez with a groundout to third. He completed the shutout by striking out the final batter, Arias, with three pitches. The last pitch reached a speed of 102.6 miles per hour (165.1 km/h), the fastest of the game.
Skubal recorded 94 pitches, utilizing a four-seam fastball (29 pitches), changeup (29 pitches), sinker (26 pitches), slider (9 pitches), and knuckle curve (1 pitch). The whiff rate for the changeup reached 67%, while the whiff rate for the sinker was also high at 40%. The average velocity of his four-seam fastball was 98.1 miles per hour (157.9 km/h).
After achieving the Triple Crown and winning the American League Cy Young Award last year, Skubal continues to perform well this season with a record of 5 wins and 2 losses, an earned run average of 2.49 over 11 games (68⅔ innings).
Major League Baseball's official media outlet, MLB.com, noted that "Skubal became the second Tigers pitcher to achieve a Maddux (complete game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches) after Kider Montero (complete game shutout with 96 pitches) on Sept. 11 last year. Skubal, with 13 strikeouts, surpassed Carlos Carrasco (2014), Cliff Lee (2011), and Sandy Koufax (1964) in achieving a Maddux while recording the most strikeouts among those pitchers."
[OSEN]