The Baltimore Orioles had no answer for Tarik Skubal on Sunday.
The Detroit Tigers ace held Baltimore scoreless through six innings while striking out 11 batters as the Tigers beat the Orioles, 7-0, to complete a three-game sweep at Comerica Park.
Skubal struck out five of the first seven batters he faced, setting the tone early, while Javier Báez gave the Tigers (18-10) a lead in the second inning with a two-out, two-run double down the left field line. Báez later scored, after drawing a walk, on an RBI single from Gleyber Torres.
“They saw the patented aggressive yells at the end of these big strikeouts to end innings,” Hinch said. “It was vintage Tarik.”
The Tigers added two insurance runs in the sixth inning on RBI singles from Jace Jung and Dillon Dingler, followed by a two-RBI double from Torres in the seventh.
Skubal worked around four Orioles hits while striking out at least one batter in every inning (and two or more in four of his six frames). Left-handed reliever Sean Guenther pitched two scoreless innings, followed by a scoreless ninth from Kenta Maeda.
The Tigers won the last four games of their 10-game homestand (with an 8-2 mark and a 13-3 record at home overall) and completed their second series sweep of the season.
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Skubal carves up Orioles
The cameras at Comerica Park captured a wide smile on Skubal’s face as he ran from the dugout to the mound for the first inning. The smile was the start to a good day from start to finish for Skubal, who was serenaded with chants of “SKUB!” by the 28,613 in attendance following the sixth inning.
Skubal started by striking out Ramón Laureano and Ryan Mountcastle on a pair of changeups in the first inning. He then struck out the side in the second, getting Gary Sánchez with a 99.2 mph fastball and Dylan Carlson and Heston Kjerstad on changeups below the zone.
“I mean, the results were better but I think my pitch execution was a little bit better,” said Skubal said, referencing his previous start, a no-decision against the Kansas City Royals. “Even after my last one, it was really just two-strike pitch execution. To get to two strikes, I did a really good job of that. First-pitch strikes were great, it was just more two-strike execution and that was a point of emphasis for me.”
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The Orioles created traffic on the bases in the fourth inning with a Ramón Urias single, followed by Skubal hitting Sánchez with an inside fastball. But, he got out of the jam with a groundout followed by striking out Kjerstad again with a low changeup.
He picked up two more strikeouts in the fifth inning, and then finished his outing with another pair of strikeouts against Urias and Sánchez in the sixth inning.
Skubal threw six innings with four hits allowed, zero walks and a season-high 11 strikeouts. He threw 91 pitches, including 61 for strikes. He produced 22 swings and misses on 46 swings from Baltimore, including 12 whiffs against his changeup and five against his fastball. He threw 31 changeups, 22 fastballs, 19 sinkers, 16 sliders and three curveballs.
“That’s the way Ding set it up, he was great,” Skubal said. “I don’t know how many times I threw it, but it felt like we were always throwing it in unpredictable counts, even though I may have thrown it 30 times or whatever it was. He did a great job back there.”
Skubal’s 22 whiffs were his second-most of 2025 and the third-most of his career. He is now 3-2 and lowered his season ERA to 2.34.
“It looked like from the side that that was some of the best stuff that he’s had this entire year,” Hinch said. “Finished on his fastball. He had the changeup whenever he wanted.”
Báez drives in two, manufactures another
Before the game, Hinch said the focus for Báez, who has struggled at the plate throughout his Tigers tenure, is to produce good at-bats and not chase results.
“We’ve gotten to small goals with him on have a good at-bat and let the result be what it is and not get too caught up in ‘is he doing this? Is he doing that?’” Hinch said. “… Those will come as a byproduct of a good approach and having positive at-bats. I have been happy with his discipline to stay with that. He has not chased homers or doubles.”
Báez, batting ninth, took the first pitch in his first plate appearance and then shot a curveball over the third baseman’s head to score Spencer Torkelson and Trey Sweeney, who both reached on walks.
The Tigers’ new center fielder drew a walk in a seven-pitch plate appearance his second time up. He then tagged up on a Kerry Carpenter flyout to right field to reach scoring position, with Torres driving him in with an RBI single. Báez singled and scored again in the seventh on a Torres double, finishing 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
“The freedom that he’s playing with, it is also coming with incredible discipline,” Hinch said postgame.
Jared Ramsey covers sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.
