HOUSTON — Tarik Skubal added perhaps his most important accomplishment to an already sparkling resume.
The AL pitching Triple Crown winner gave the Detroit Tigers their first postseason victory in more than a decade with a sensational playoff debut in a 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday.
Skubal said this was the most nervous he’s been since his big league debut in 2020, but that he found a way to center himself.
“Breathe, execute pitches,” he said. “That’s all you can do when you’re out there. Once I got off the mound and fired my first pitch, I think all that stuff kind of goes away.”
Skubal, who had had 228 strikeouts to go with 18 wins and 2.39 ERA, allowed just four singles and one walk in six innings.
“Those guys swing early and often, put the ball in play,” he said. “You have to be relentless at throwing strikes and getting ahead. When you get behind, that’s when the damage starts happening.”
Detroit manager A.J. Hinch was asked what makes the 27-year-old so special — aside from his incredible gifts on the mound. He said his work ethic is unmatched.
Hinch shared that at first he couldn’t find Skubal in the clubhouse after the win and located the pitcher doing arm exercises with the training staff while the rest of the Tigers soaked in the victory.
“He’s all in,” Hinch said. “He will do anything. He’s intense, but he’s under control. He’s competitive, but he’s a thinking man’s pitcher. He’s got weapons. He’s the complete package of a guy that you want anchoring a staff. As he’s gotten more popular and more attention and more status within the game, he continues to work harder.”
Hinch said no one should be surprised that Skubal, the AL Cy Young Award favorite, shined on the big stage. He’s been doing it all season.
“We’ve seen a lot of these Tarik Skubal starts,” Hinch said. “This is not an outlier. This is why many people refer to him as one of the best pitchers on the planet.”
About the only hard hit by the Astros off Skubal was one that hit the pitcher — he was struck on his right wrist by Yainer Diaz’s second-inning comebacker.
He said he shook off catcher Jake Rogers before he threw that pitch.
“I shook one time, and it was 117 (mph) back up the middle,” Skubal said. “So I stopped shaking the rest of the game. It almost killed me. So, yeah, I learned my lesson. I’m not shaking. I’m just throwing whatever he throws.”
He was fighting through severe cramps in the sixth inning but managed to finish his day when he fanned Yainer Diaz for his sixth strikeout. He yelled and clapped after the strikeout before returning to the dugout.
“It’s just emotion,” he said. “It’s how I play the game. I feed off of it.”