SEATTLE (AP) — Tarik Skubal was terrific. And he was long gone when the season ended for the Detroit Tigers.
Skubal struck out 13 in six dominant innings in Game 5 of the AL Division Series at Seattle on Friday night. But the Tigers were eliminated when Jorge Polanco singled home J.P. Crawford in the 15th inning, giving the Mariners a 3-2 victory.
Skubal did his part with Detroit on the brink of the franchise’s first appearance in the AL Championship
Series since 2013. The ace left-hander allowed one run and two hits in what turned into baseball's longest winner-take-all postseason game by innings.
“It’s incredible. He kick-started us in such a good direction,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He missed a ton of bats. Again, if you’re not a fan of the Tigers and you haven’t watched Tarik start after start after start, you’re going to see why he gets the love he does, because he’s incredible.”
Skubal, who won the AL Cy Young Award last year, also started Detroit's 3-2 loss in Game 2. He struck out nine in seven innings, but he surrendered two runs on Polanco's two homers.
Skubal was even better in the series finale.
Seattle jumped in front when Josh Naylor doubled, stole third and scored on Mitch Garver's sacrifice fly in the second. But Skubal took over from there.
He had a streak of seven consecutive strikeouts, setting a postseason record for a single game. The streak ended when Naylor lined to center for the first out of the fifth.
“Skubal was as advertised,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He did what he does. He had a really good fastball again tonight and mixing his changeup well, had us off stride, and we had to fight for everything.”
The 28-year-old Skubal struck out Cal Raleigh on a 100.9 mph fastball on his 99th and final pitch of the night.
Hinch said it was an “easy decision” to take out Skubal at that point.
“After the fifth, I checked in on him how he was doing physically and emotionally, and we both knew that he had one left,” Hinch said. “You know, he emptied his tank and obviously was emotional coming off the mound, and I think that signals exactly where we were in the game. He gave us everything he could.”
It was reminiscent of Skubal's performance during the AL Wild Card Series at Cleveland, when he struck out 14 while pitching 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball in the Tigers' 2-1 victory in Game 1.
He became the first player in MLB history to record at least 13 Ks in a game twice in the same postseason, according to STATS.
Skubal went 13-6 during the regular season with an AL-low 2.21 ERA. He ranked second in strikeouts with 241.
He was in the same position a year ago, with a chance to pitch the Tigers into the ALCS by winning Game 5 of the Division Series. But he gave up a tiebreaking grand slam to Lane Thomas in the fifth inning of a 7-3 loss at Cleveland.
“He’s an emotional leader,” Hinch said. “He’s someone who brings it on the field. You see it every five or six days. And we’ve asked a lot out of him this season, but specifically this postseason, every five days. You want the ball in his hand, and you want him to represent your club.”
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