Can Detroit Tigers get to 96 wins in 2025? Here’s what it would take
On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold and Chris Brown break down what’s going right for the Detroit Tigers in the past month, plus if 96 wins is achievable.
The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-0, on Sunday, Aug. 31.Tarik Skubal threw seven scoreless innings for the Tigers, his 11th scoreless start (of 6 innings or more) this season.Tigers catcher Jake Rogers went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple.
KANSAS CITY, MO — When Jake Rogers stepped to the plate in the fifth inning for the Detroit Tigers, he had five hits in eight at-bats in his career against Kansas City Royals right-hander Michael Wacha, including two extra-base hits.
Rogers capitalized with runners on the corners by hitting Wacha’s fastball for a two-run triple, sparking a four-run fifth inning to support left-hander Tarik Skubal in the Tigers’ 5-0 win over the Royals on Sunday, Aug. 31, at Kauffman Stadium.
The Tigers (80-58) became the second MLB team to 80 wins, trailing only the National League-leading Milwaukee Brewers. The Tigers continue to boast the best record in the American League, sitting a half-game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays.
More notably, the Tigers have a 9½-game lead over the Royals for first place in the AL Central, with 24 games remaining.
Rogers also guided Skubal as the catcher.
Skubal completed seven scoreless innings on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts, throwing 93 pitches. The 28-year-old made history, setting a franchise record for 11 scoreless starts in a single season (with a minimum of six innings per start), passing Denny McLain in 1969.
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But Skubal nearly gave up a run in the third inning.
Maikel Garcia ripped a leadoff double into the left-field corner, then advanced to third base on Bobby Witt Jr.’s flyout — bringing Vinnie Pasquantino to the plate in a big moment. Skubal worked ahead in the count with two strikes in a row, but before his third pitch, Rogers stood up and walked to the mound for a visit.
After the visit, Skubal blew a 98 mph fastball past Pasquantino for a swinging strikeout.
To end the third inning, Salvador Perez grounded out on a first-pitch up-and-in fastball that broke his bat. On his way to the dugout, Skubal picked up Perez’s broken bat and handed it to Royals third base coach Vance Wilson.
In total, Skubal stranded one runner in the first inning, two runners in the second, one runner in the third, one runner in the fifth and one runner in the seventh.
The fourth and sixth were his only clean innings.
Skubal generated eight whiffs on 47 swings for a below-average 17% whiff rate: two fastballs, four changeups, one sinker, one slider. His fastball averaged 96.5 mph, down 1.0 mph from the average fastball velocity in his first 26 starts.
He now owns a 2.18 ERA in 27 starts.
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Jake Rogers sparks Tigers
In the fifth inning, Rogers drove in Spencer Torkelson (walk) and Zach McKinstry (single)Â with his one-out triple, putting the Tigers ahead, 2-0. He has six hits in nine battles against Wacha, with three extra-base hits.
Royals center fielder Tyler Tolbert took a bad route that let the ball drop at the warning track.
The mistake allowed the Tigers’ to extend the fifth inning, even after Trey Sweeney’s flyout for the second out. With two outs, Colt Keith hit an RBI double for a 3-0 lead and Gleyber Torres delivered an RBI single for a 4-0 lead.
Wacha allowed four runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts across 4â…” innings, throwing 71 pitches. He retired 12 of the first 13 batters, then everything unraveled with Torkelson’s leadoff walk in the fifth.
The Tigers extended their lead to 5-0 in the eighth inning when Riley Greene, who had a leadoff walk, scored on a passed ball from left-handed reliever Sam Long.
Rogers finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Kyle Finnegan’s workload
The Tigers could’ve rested right-handed reliever Kyle Finnegan, but he came out of the bullpen and delivered a scoreless eighth inning, preserving a 5-0 lead.
With that outing, Finnegan logged 14â…“ innings in August — the most in any month of his six-year MLB career. The 33-year-old still hasn’t allowed a run since the Tigers acquired him from the Washington Nationals at the July 31 trade deadline.
Finnegan struck out Garcia on three fastballs in a row to record the second out in the eighth, without Garcia swinging. The final two pitches — both registering 97 mph — were painted on the down-and-away corner of the strike zone.
In August, Finnegan posted a 0.00 ERA with three walks (6.1% walk rate) and 19 strikeouts (38.8% strikeout rate) across 14â…“ innings in 12 games. Before joining the Tigers, he had a 4.38 ERA with 14 walks (8.6% walk rate) and 32 strikeouts (19.6% strikeout rate) over 39 innings in 40 games.
Right-handed reliever Rafael Montero, whom the Tigers acquired from the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline, completed the ninth inning, retiring all three batters.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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