Tarik Skubal delivered a big-game start and Spencer Torkelson hit a go-ahead home run to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 3-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in front of a sellout crowd of 40,132 on Friday night at Comerica Park.
The Tigers (42-23) took the opener of a high-profile three-game interleague series between MLB’s top two teams. They’ll face the Cubs (39-24) twice more this weekend.
Torkelson’s solo shot, his 15th of the season, came in the sixth inning off Cubs starter Ben Brown, breaking a 1-1 tie.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the bottom of the fifth when Javier Báez reached on an infield single, the first of three straight two-out hits against Brown.
Chicago tied the game in the sixth with doubles from Matt Shaw and Kyle Tucker, snapping Skubal’s 21-inning scoreless streak, the longest of his career within a single season.
Skubal gave up three singles in the eighth, though one baserunner was erased attempting to steal second. With two outs, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch called on Will Vest to face Cubs designated hitter Seiya Suzuki.
Suzuki launched a high fly to right, but Kerry Carpenter tracked it to the wall and made a leaping catch to end the inning and likely save the game.
The Tigers gave Vest an extra run in the bottom of the eighth when Jahmai Jones, recently arrived from Triple-A Toledo, crushed the first pitch he saw from reliever Genesis Cabrera into the left-field seats.
Vest pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 10th save.
In the fifth inning, Pete Crow-Armstrong reached on a single and seemed poised to score on Dansby Swanson’s double. But third base coach Quintin Berry put up a late stop sign, and Crow-Armstrong couldn’t scramble back to third base fast enough. Skubal quickly retired the next two batters and escaped the inning completely unscathed.
Colt Keith extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games with a single in the second, but he was erased on a double play.
