Skubal stays hot as Tigers take down A's

*Photo from MLive*

   The future looks bright in the motor city. Andy Ibanez drove in a pair of runs, Tarik Skubal had a strong start, and the Detroit Tigers defeated the Oakland Athletics with a 7-3 victory on Thursday night in Oakland.

   The Tigers won their second game in a row and 6th out of 10 as they handed the A's their 8th loss in a row as well. The Tigers capitalized on 3 Oakland errors to score runs, with Ibanez being the only multi RBI player. The starting pitching also has a 2.99 ERA since August 15, leading the majors.

   Detroit manager AJ Hinch said that "When you see how our rotation’s pitched in the last month and a half or so, and we're not even fully healthy yet, it's a good sign. When you get success like this, especially in back-to-back games and in many of the games over the last six weeks, it’s encouraging for what’s ahead and the group of pitchers that we can put together."

   Spencer Torkelson started the scoring in the first inning when he reached on a fielder's choice, with Matt Vierling scoring. Ibanez then doubled the lead to 2-0 with an RBI triple that brought in Torkelson. In the 5th inning, Vierling made it 3-0 Tigers with an RBI single before he then scored on a double and error to make it a 4-0 game.

   Later in the 5th, Zach McKinstry scored on a balk to pad the Tigers lead to 5-0. In the 8th inning, Ibanez hit an RBI single and Kerry Carpenter scored on a fielding error to make it a 7-0 game. In the 9th inning, Kevin Smith scored on a wild pitch to get the A's on the board before Brent Rooker hit a two run home run to make it a 7-3 score.

   Skubal turned in a dominant start for the Tigers, allowing two hits and one walk while racking up 10 strikeouts in 7 shutout innings, winning his 4th straight start. Brenan Hanifee pitched the next two innings, allowing 3 runs but closing out the win.

   Hinch said of Skubal's start "Putaway pitches, soft contact, low pitch count, everything that you like about pitching, Tarik did tonight. The more he can have multiple weapons, the better he’s gonna be. And he stayed with it tonight, he was completely dominant."

   Luis Medina started for the A's, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits and a walk in 6 innings pitched. Mason Miller pitched the next two innings while giving up two runs. Easton Lucas and Trevor May threw a scoreless inning each.

   Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said after the game that "The challenge is to get out of that valley by playing a clean game, getting a good pitching performance and not waiting until the ninth inning to score runs. We’ve got to figure it out. It’s not fun right now. We’ve got three games going into the weekend to try to play better baseball and be more competitive."

   Up next, the series continues on Friday night. Rookie Sawyer Gipson-Long will make his 3rd career start for the Tigers, while Ken Waldichuk is set to start for the Athletics.