Tarik Skubal leads Tigers past Astros in AL wild-card opener

HOUSTON —  Tarik Skubal kept up his stellar season with a sensational playoff debut and the Detroit Tigers got to Framber Valdez early in a 3-1 win over the Houston Astros in their American League Wild Card Series opener Tuesday.

The Tigers, swept in the AL Division Series in their last trip to the playoffs in 2014, got their first postseason win since Game 4 the 2013 AL Championship Series against the  Boston Red Sox.

Down 3-0 entering the ninth, Houston scored on Yainer Diaz’s RBI single and had the bases loaded when Jason Heyward hit a game-ending lineout against Beau Brieske.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Wednesday in Houston.

Skubal, the AL pitching Triple Crown winner, gave up only four singles and walked one in six innings. About the only hard hit by the Astros off him was one that hit him — the left-hander was struck on his right wrist by Diaz’s second-inning line drive.

He became the first pitching Triple Crown winner to win his first postseason start in the same season since Sandy Koufax tossed a 15-strikeout complete game in a 5-2 win in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series at Yankee Stadium.

“It was a good challenge,” Skubal said. “It was fun. It was a ton of fun. I enjoyed it. It’s probably the most nervous I’ve been since my debut. That was also fun to deal with. What a game. It was fun, glad to come out with a win.”

Yordan Alvarez, playing for the first time since spraining his right knee Sept. 22, doubled off Jason Foley to start the ninth inning. Pinch runner Zach Dezenzo moved to third on Alex Bregman’s infield single and Diaz singled on a grounder to right.

Jeremy Pena sacrificed, Brieske relieved and Victor Caratini flied out to short left. Chas McCormick walked to load the bases, but Brieske retired Heyward for the save.

The AL West champions were hurt by yet another playoff flop from Valdez, who went 0-3 in the postseason last year. Houston’s ace ranked third in the AL with a 2.91 ERA in the regular season but gave up three runs and seven hits in just 4⅓ innings Tuesday.

“Skubal has been really good all year,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “We had a few chances there in the middle of the game, and we couldn’t capitalize. But credit to him. He made pitches. And we battled until the end. We had a shot there in the ninth, and we just couldn’t get a big hit.”

Detroit pounced on him in the second. Wenceel Perez singled with one out before  Spencer Torkelson walked and Parker Meadows grounded into a forceout that left runners at the corners.

Jake Rogers, Trey Sweeney and Matt Vierling then hit consecutive RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.

The Tigers had a runner on third with two outs in the third when Peña made a diving catch at shortstop on Torkelson’s liner.

It was a return to Houston for Detroit manager A.J. Hinch, who led the Astros to a championship in 2017, and last managed a postseason game in the Astros’ loss in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series.

The following January he was suspended for a year by Major League Baseball and fired the same day for his role in Houston’s sign-stealing scandal.

He joined the Tigers after his suspension was up and guided the team back to the postseason with a 31-13 finish to the regular season.

Hinch improved to 5-0 in postseason openers in his managerial career, the second-most wins without a loss in postseason history, trailing only Earl Weaver’s 6-0 mark. 

The Astros, in the postseason for a franchise-record eighth straight season, had won an MLB-record 10 consecutive postseason openers. They played their 98th postseason game since 2017.

Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.