Tarik Skubal delivered one of his sharpest outings of the spring, Matt Vierling drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and Parker Meadows added a stolen base and run scored as the Detroit Tigers handled the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 Saturday afternoon at TD Ballpark.
Skubal turned in 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball, finishing with seven strikeouts against three hits and two walks across 61 pitches. The left-hander leaned on his four-seam fastball, throwing it 38 percent of the time at an average velocity of 97.3 mph, while mixing in his slider, sinker, changeup and curveball to keep Toronto off-balance through the middle innings.
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He struck out seven and induced weak contact throughout, posting a 34 percent combined called strike and whiff rate on the night. His only blemish came in the fifth inning when Daulton Varsho pulled a solo home run to center field, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Through four innings, Skubal was dominant. He retired the Blue Jays in order in the first on a groundout and two strikeouts, then worked around a Leo Jiménez error in the second without allowing a run. In the third, he induced a Riley Tirotta single but erased the threat with a double play off the bat of George Springer. The Blue Jays went down 1-2-3 in the fourth on three grounders and flyouts.
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Max Scherzer held Detroit scoreless through four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. After Jace Jung and Trei Cruz made the first two outs, Parker Meadows worked a walk and Kevin McGonigle followed with another. That brought up Vierling, who lined a sharp double to left field to score Meadows and give Detroit a 1-0 lead. Wenceel Pérez followed with a ground single through the left side, plating McGonigle and pushing the advantage to 2-0.
Vierling came up again in the seventh with Gage Workman on base after entering as a pinch-runner. He delivered again, doubling sharply to center off Louis Varland to push the lead to 3-1. On the day, Vierling finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs, providing Detroit’s most productive offensive performance in the contest.
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Meadows was a catalyst at the top of the order. The center fielder reached twice — on a fifth-inning walk and a third-inning single — and stole second base in the third. He scored once and moved the lineup over in situations that allowed Vierling to inflict damage.
The Tigers added two more in the eighth on back-to-back singles from Max Anderson and John Peck, the latter plating Anderson after he had doubled to center. Andrew Jenkins followed with another RBI single before a double play ended the inning.
Eduardo Valencia, Eduardo Valencia and Max Anderson each added run-scoring hits in the ninth, with Anderson’s single to left field scoring Zach MacDonald to close out the 6-1 final.
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Jack Little, Burch Smith, Tanner Rainey and Sean Guenther each contributed in relief behind Skubal, with Rainey and Guenther combining to limit Toronto to a walk and single in the eighth and ninth.
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