Tarik Skubal of the Tigers wants all the smoke after taking out the Guardians

Tarik Skubal welcomes the pressure and noise of the MLB postseason.

The Detroit Tigers star gave the Tigers another phenomenal start in a critical situation against the Cleveland Guardians in Game 2 of the ALDS. Skubal threw seven scoreless innings over 92 pitches with eight strikeouts to keep the Tigers alive in a scoreless contest against Cleveland.

He started with a perfect first four innings, but then had to escape trouble in the fifth and sixth innings, both with inning-ending double plays. After giving up a double and then hitting a batter in the fifth inning, he got Andrés Giménez to run a 4-6-3 double play, putting a runner in scoring position.

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In the sixth, the Guardians strung together two hits to put runners on the corners and give one out, but Skubal got another double play with runners on the corners.

He induced Trey Sweeney to hit a slow chopper off David Fry with an inside fastball. Sweeney hit it to Colt Keith, who passed it to a stretching Spencer Torkelson for the double play.

After the Tigers converted the double play, Skubal left the mound and fired up the Cleveland crowd, demanding more noise.

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Despite Skubal’s great performance, the Tigers were stuck in a scoreless game with the Guardians. The Tigers’ batters yielded just four hits in the first 4⅔ innings, all without starter Matthew Boyd, and came up empty on both chances with runners in scoring position.

The Tigers and Guardians have an off day on Tuesday before Game 3 on Wednesday at Comerica Park in Detroit.

Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press, covering the city’s professional teams, the state’s two flagship universities and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22 and email him at [email protected].

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