Tarik Skubal screamed onto the playoff stage, tying Detroit’s postseason strikeout record with 14 as the Tigers toppled Cleveland 2-1 in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series. Skubal went 7 2/3, peppering the zone with a 99.1 mph fastball and 73 strikes while Will Vest slammed the door in the ninth after Jose Ramirez was cut down at the plate on a heads-up baserunning try. Detroit took the lead on a McKinstry squeeze and can clinch the series in Game 2 behind Casey Mize, who faces Tanner Bibee.

Tarik Skubal’s 14-strikeout showdown carried Detroit to a 2-1 win in the AL wild-card opener, tying a Tigers postseason record and showing velocity spikes that peaked above 100 mph across 11 pitches. The performance set a throwback tone, even as the Tigers leaned on small-ball when it mattered most.

Detroit stretched a seventh-inning go-ahead moment into victory with Zack McKinstry’s perfectly executed safety squeeze to score Riley Green, and two sacrificed bunts underscored a grind-it-out mindset. Cleveland mounted two unearned runs off miscues, but Skubal and the Tigers’ plan prevailed as the series moves to Game 2 with Casey Mize facing Tanner Bibee, before a potential ALDS rematch with Seattle.