The Tigers have won 11 of their last 14 games, and Saturday’s 7-0 win in Anaheim showed both halves of the surge: another dominant Tarik Skubal start and an offense that finally looks like it belongs in the same lineup with him.
Spencer Torkelson homered twice and drove in four runs, giving him 18 home runs on the season. His batting average still sits at .209, which tells you what kind of hitter he is right now — but when the ball leaves the park twice in a night, nobody in the visiting dugout is checking the average. Colt Keith went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, and rookie Kevin McGonigle added two hits, including a double, and scored twice. Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez took the loss, charged with six runs on seven hits in four innings.
Skubal (6-5) was the evening’s quieter pleasure. Seven innings, five hits, nine strikeouts, no walks — 87 pitches, 60 for strikes, and only one Angels runner past first base, per the Associated Press. It was his fourth nine-strikeout start in his last five outings, and his season line now reads 2.83 ERA with 98 strikeouts against 11 walks across 82.2 innings. Jacob Waguespack, Kyle Finnegan and Brenan Hanifee closed out the shutout.
The record is still 46-52, because the first three months happened. But Detroit has climbed to within 3.5 games of the AL’s third wild card, and the way it is winning — shutdown starting pitching, contributions up and down the order — travels better than a hot streak built on late-inning luck. Every start Skubal makes like this one also sharpens the front office’s decision ahead of the August 3 deadline, a question this desk has covered at length.
On the fantasy side, Skubal is pitching like a top-three starter and should be treated accordingly in trade talks — the 98-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the best evidence. Torkelson remains a power-only corner bat best deployed in daily lineups, while Keith, quietly at .256 and warming, is worth a look in AL-only formats.
