DETROIT — Tarik Skubal struck out seven batters in seven scoreless innings as the Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 on Tuesday night.
“He's a dude,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He hit 100, but he also did a much better job of mixing in his other pitches. He did everything tonight.”
Skubal (9-3) allowed three hits and a walk while hitting one batter.
“That's one of the better performances we've seen this season,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He's got really good stuff and he comes right after you. He should be an All-Star.”
Andy Ibáñez had two hits, including a two-run single in Detroit's four-run fifth inning, as the Tigers ended a seven-game losing streak to the Phillies.
Bryce Harper homered off Tigers closer Jason Foley in the ninth. He has three doubles and two homers — good for six RBIs — in the first two games of the series.
The game was expected to be a pitcher's duel between probable All-Stars — Skubal and Ranger Suárez.
Suárez (10-2) held Detroit scoreless for four innings but gave up four runs in the fifth.
“He was fine, but I've seen him better,” Thomson said. “There have been a lot of games where he was ahead a lot more than he was tonight, but he battled.”
Philadelphia, which had won its last three games by a combined 24-3, had the best chance to score before the Tigers broke through.
Harper's double gave the Phillies runners on second and third with two out in the third, but Skubal retired Alec Bohm on a grounder to second.
Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jake Rogers started the fifth with singles. Ryan Kreidler failed to get down a bunt, but got an infield single when Trea Turner couldn't cleanly field his slow grounder.
“I think (Turner) was looking to flip it to (Bohm) for the out at third, and he just rushed it,” Thomson said. “It just popped out of his glove.”
Matt Vierling, who hit into a triple play on Monday, drove in the game's first run with a groundout to short.
Ibáñez made it 3-0 with a line drive through the drawn-in infield. Mark Canha grounded out, but Riley Greene hit a hard grounder that got past Harper for an RBI triple.
“(Suárez) is a tough pitcher — he's always one pitch away getting out of a situation with a double play and you can't run on him,” Hinch said. “We had some timely hits, we had some soft hits and we ran the bases a little bit.”
Seranthony Dominguez replaced Suárez for the seventh and immediately walked Kreidler, ending Philadelphia's streak of 140 batters without a base on balls.
NOT QUITE DARK
The game's first pitch was at 6:40 p.m., meaning it is officially classified as a night game. However, with the game being played in just 2:04, the last out was recorded 29 minutes before Tuesday's 9:13 sunset in Detroit.
UP NEXT
The teams finish the three-game series on Wednesday afternoon, with RHP Spencer Turnbull (3-0, 2.63) facing his former team. The Tigers are expected to pitch several relievers.