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 AL Wild Card Series opener on Tuesday.
The Tigers, swept in the American League 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 Boston.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Wednesday in Houston.
Skubal, the AL pitching Triple Crown winner, allowed just 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 was struck on his right wrist by Diaz’s second-inning comebacker.
“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.”
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 permitted three runs and seven hits in just 4 1/3 innings Tuesday.
It was a return to Houston for Detroit manager A.J. Hinch, who led Houston to a championship in 2017, and the 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.
Houston left three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander off the roster for this series but did include injured slugger Yordan Alvarez.
Verlander struggled in his return after missing almost two months with a neck injury this summer. The 41-year-old right-hander went 2-2 with a 9.26 earned-run average in five starts in September.
Astros manager Joe Espada said Verlander was professional when told of the decision and said he could be on the roster for future rounds if the team advances. Verlander last pitched Saturday, allowing three runs in six innings against Cleveland.
Alvarez missed the end of the regular season with a right knee sprain and hasn’t played since Sept. 22. The 27-year-old, in Tuesday’s lineup as the designated hitter, is a career .295 hitter with 12 homers and a .949 on-base-plus slugging percentage in 58 post-season games.
Mets ride momentum in win over Brewers
Mark Vientos hit a tiebreaking, two-run single during a five-run outburst in the fifth inning as the indefatigable New York Mets continued their thrilling week by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 8-4 in a National League Wild Card Series opener on Tuesday.
The Mets didn’t earn a playoff berth until they rallied late from a three-run deficit to win the opening game of a makeup doubleheader in Atlanta on Monday, one day after the regular season was supposed to end.
Now they’re a win from heading to Philadelphia for an NL Division Series.
Since Major League Baseball went to the current post-season format in 2022 that features four best-of-three Wild Card Series, the Game 1 winner has gone on to advance in each of the eight series. Only one of those eight series even made it to a winner-take-all third game.
Milwaukee has lost 10 of its last 11 playoff games, a stretch that began with its Game 7 home defeat against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 NL Championship Series.
Jesse Winker and pinch-hitter J.D. Martinez each drove in two runs for the Mets. Winker, who batted .199 with a .567 OPS for the Brewers last year before bouncing back this season, drew a chorus of boos each time he batted and appeared to exchange words with Milwaukee shortstop Willy Adames after hitting a two-run triple in the second.
The Mets were playing in Milwaukee just 22 hours after that Monday doubleheader in Atlanta. They clinched their spot in the post-season by scoring all their runs in the final two innings of an 8-7 victory over the Braves.
Witt comes clutch as Royals blank Os
Bobby Witt Jr. made the most of his much-anticipated playoff debut, driving in the only run Tuesday to back Cole Ragans’ six sharp innings and help the Kansas City Royals return from a nine-year postseason absence with a 1-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of their AL Wild Card Series.
“I’m like, `This is where you want to be,”‘ Witt said afterward. “This is the spot you want to be in. And this is what makes you a baseball player. This is what you dream of.”
Witt, the 24-year-old shortstop who led the majors with 211 hits and a .332 batting average this season, singled to left field off a 95 mph, first-pitch cutter from 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes with two outs in the sixth.
“It’s kind of fitting for [Witt Jr.] to drive in the run. He’s been the leader of the offence — him and [Salvador Perez] — all year,” KC’s Michael Massey said. “Having him up in that situation is what we want as a team.”
They couldn’t keep adding to their lead, but that didn’t matter, thanks to Ragans, who was every bit as good, if not better, than Burnes before leaving after 80 pitches because of cramping in his left calf, plus a bullpen that was KC’s weakness during the regular season but was more than fine Tuesday.
Now they can end this best-of-three series and advance to an AL Division Series against the New York Yankees by winning Game 2 in Baltimore on Wednesday, when KC will send All-Star Seth Lugo to the mound. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said he wouldn’t announce his starter until after Tuesday’s game, although it was expected to be Zach Elfin.
Baltimore has lost its last nine postseason games, a skid that dates to 2014.
Chris Sale left off Atlanta roster
As expected, Atlanta won’t have National League Cy Young Award contender Chris Sale for its wild-card series at San Diego.
Atlanta also left off starters Spencer Schwellenbach and Grant Holmes after they pitched Monday. Starters AJ Smith-Shawver and Bryce Elder were included.
For Kansas City, Vinnie Pasquantino was on the roster for the AL wild-card series at Baltimore, returning from the injured list after breaking his right thumb on Aug. 29. He batted .262 with 19 homers and 97 runs batted in this season.
Average game time dips to 2 hours 36 minutes
The average time of a nine-inning major league baseball game dropped to two hours 36 minutes in the second year of the pitch clock, the lowest since 1984.
The average was down four minutes from 2023 and 28 minutes from 2022. It had not been this low since 1984’s 2:35.
MLB shortened the pitch clock with runners on base by two seconds to 18 ahead of the 2024 season while keeping it at 15 seconds without runners on base.
The average game time passed 3 hours for the first time in 2016. It reached a record 3:10 in 2021 before the introduction of the PitchCom electronic pitch-calling device helped bring it down to 3:04 in 2022.
