DETROIT — When ESPN selected the Twins and Tigers to feature on Sunday Night Baseball, they were looking for a good show to broadcast to their national audience. They certainly got one — it just happened to come at the expense of the Twins.
Reigning American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal dominated the Twins from the beginning of his seven-inning to the end, leading the Tigers to a 3-0 win over the Twins in the series finale at Comerica Park.
Skubal started his day by striking out Byron Buxton. There was a whole lot more of that coming.
The ace of the Tigers (53-32) and quite possibly the best pitcher in baseball right now, struck out eight of the first nine Twins batters he faced. Only one, Ryan Jeffers, put the ball in play, flying out to center. Two of the batters he struck out did so after he fell behind 3-0 on them.
Within that stretch, he punched out seven straight batters, most of them on low changeups. In total, he got 15 of 22 swing and misses on that pitch alone. The next time through the Twins’ lineup, they were at least able to put the bat to the ball. And yet they still came away with next to nothing.
Skubal retired the first 13 batters he faced before Ty France hit a single which fell between center fielder Parker Meadows and right fielder Kerry Carpenter. The fifth inning hit was the only one the Twins (40-44) could manage all night against Skubal, who later walked Christian Vázquez. Neither runner who reached advanced past first base.
Before his night was over, Skubal struck out 13 Twins, matching a career high. He got all nine in the batting order to go down swinging and got a couple of them — Harrison Bader and Brooks Lee — twice.
His brilliance meant that Chris Paddack would have had to have been nearly perfect himself to keep the Twins in the game. And while Paddack did enough to give the Twins a chance to hang around it wasn’t enough against Skubal near his best.
Paddack allowed a solo home run to Kerry Carpenter in the first inning, another solo shot to Riley Greene in the fourth and a third run on a Carpenter triple in the fifth, which ended his night.
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