Detroit Tigers score: Tarik Skubal gave up three runs in the third inning, but lasted seven innings as the Tigers forced extra innings in a 4-3 win.
MINNEAPOLIS — Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal shouted the same expletive twice in the fourth inning: first after allowing a single to Edouard Julien with two outs and second after striking out Austin Martin for the third out.
Both were F-bombs.
He wasn't happy with his performance.
But Skubal found a way to limit the damage to three runs across seven innings — and he kept the Tigers in position for a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins in 11 innings Thursday, Aug. 14, in the first of four games in the series at Target Field.
In the 11th, Gleyber Torres put the Tigers ahead with a sacrifice fly.
Not only did the Tigers (71-52) win back-to-back games, but they also recorded a one-run win in the third consecutive Skubal start — and for the fourth time in his past five starts.
Both teams failed to score in the 10th inning, with the Tigers throwing out the Twins' free runner at home plate — from first baseman Spencer Torkelson to catcher Dillon Dingler — for the second out.
In the 11th inning, the Tigers' free runner, Colt Keith, advanced to third base on a wild pitch from right-handed reliever Erasmo Ramírez, then scored on Torres' sacrifice fly for a 4-3 lead.
Right-handed reliever Rafael Montero — acquired from the Atlanta Braves before the July 31 trade deadline — won a battle with Byron Buxton to end the 10th inning, then shut down the Twins in the 11th inning.
Montero recorded the final four outs in the one-run win.
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For Skubal, there were several negative numbers from Thursday's start: 65 strikes on 99 pitches for a 65.7% strike rate, 11 whiffs on 47 swings for a 23.4% whiff rate and three strikeouts. His three strikeouts were the second fewest of his 24 starts this season.
Here's the positive digit: 10, as in the final batters retired by Skubal as he held the Twins to just three runs on six hits and two walks over seven innings.
The result is all that matters.
And he finished better than he started.
The Twins scored all three runs in the third inning: Julien hit a solo home run for a 1-0 lead, Ryan Jeffers grounded out for a 2-0 lead, and Luke Keaschall hit a single for a 3-0 lead.
Skubal fell behind in the count to Julien with two balls, then threw an up-and-in third-pitch sinker that Julien demolished to right field for a 410-foot home run – the first left-handed hitter to homer off Skubal in the 2025 season.
The Twins put at least one runner on base in each of the first four innings against Skubal, but Skubal shut them down in the fifth, sixth and seventh to complete his outing.
Skubal owns a 2.42 ERA in 24 starts.
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Riley Greene rakes
After the Twins tagged Skubal, the Tigers countered with two runs in the top of the fourth.
Facing right-hander Bailey Ober, Kerry Carpenter ripped a double into the right-field corner, then Riley Greene launched a two-run home run on an elevated 89.2 mph fastball.
The Greene homer cut the Tigers' deficit to 3-2.
In the sixth inning, Keith — celebrating his 24th birthday — tied the game, 3-3, with a single off Ober's fastball, following Javier Báez's leadoff double.
Ober allowed three runs on four hits and zero walks with four strikeouts across 5⅓ innings, throwing 89 pitches. He lowered his ERA from 5.16 to 5.15 in his 20th start.
Javier Báez, Riley Greene in the outfield
The Tigers made two epic catches in the late innings.
Both catches robbed the Twins of extra bases.
In the sixth inning, Báez completed a running catch at the warning track in center field to take extra bases away from Brooks Lee with Skubal on the mound.
In the eighth inning, Greene completed a leaping catch at the wall to take extra bases away from Buxton with right-handed reliever Kyle Finnegan on the mound.
Finnegan — acquired from the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline — struck out the next two batters to end the eighth: Jeffers (swinging, 87.2 mph splitter), Keaschall (swinging, 88.1 mph splitter).
He hasn't allowed a run in 6⅔ innings since joining the Tigers.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tarik Skubal struggles early but Detroit Tigers rally to win, 4-3 (11)
Category: Baseball
