Detroit fireballer Tarik Skubal dazzled with six overpowering innings, and the Tigers continued their six-game road trip with a resounding 7-1 series-opening win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Skubal (3-0) allowed just three baserunners — all on singles — and faced only 20 Rays. He struck out nine in his 86-pitch stint.
In his past 10 starts dating back to last season, the left-hander is 7-0 and the Tigers have gone 9-1.
Mark Canha went 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs, two RBIs and was hit by a pitch, and Parker Meadows went deep as the Tigers improved to 3-1 on their road swing through Minneapolis and St. Petersburg.
Javier Baez had two singles, scored twice and had an RBI. Jake Rogers added two hits and scored a run.
Detroit collected 11 hits and is 9-3 on the road.
Tampa Bay’s Jose Caballero homered, while leadoff hitter Amed Rosario was 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
But the Rays produced just six hits and lost for the fourth time in six games.
Starter Zack Littell (1-1) surrendered six runs (five earned) and nine hits over six innings. He fanned seven.
After Littell retired leadoff hitter Riley Greene, Canha put the Tigers on the board by belting a 1-0 sinker from Littell to straightaway left for his fourth homer, an estimated 392-foot shot.
In the second, Baez’s two-out single knocked in Matt Vierling, who led off with a double, and an infield single by Rogers was bounced to first by Rays shortstop Caballero for a throwing error as the score moved to 3-0.
The home side scratched out a pair of singles in the first three frames, but Skubal set the tone with an upper 90s fastball that led to five early strikeouts, including whiffing the side in the second.
Detroit padded its lead in the fifth when Baez scored on Caballero’s second throwing error. Canha then lined a single to left to score Rogers and push the advantage to 5-0 as seven batters came up.
While Skubal continued to cruise, Meadows — the younger brother of 2019 Rays All-Star outfielder Austin Meadows — parked his second homer, a 427-foot blast to center off Littell’s 2-0 slider in the sixth.
Kerry Carpenter’s RBI double scored Canha in the seventh, and Caballero stroked his second long ball, a 416-foot shot to center off Shelby Miller in the eighth.
–Field Level Media