Robin Buckson, The Detroit News
By Jason Beck- MLB.com
DETROIT — Not even the wintry chill of a Michigan April could cool off the red-hot Tigers at Comerica Park. Four Detroit home runs, including Kerry Carpenter’s fourth homer of the season, supported Tarik Skubal through six scoreless innings and six strikeouts for his first win of the year in a 5-0 victory over the Yankees on Tuesday afternoon.
The Tigers are 5-0 on their current homestand, which concludes Wednesday afternoon, and have won seven of eight since being swept out of Dodger Stadium in their season-opening series.
While the Tigers looked undeterred by first-pitch temperatures of 34 degrees and a chilly wind blowing out to left, Skubal ensured that the weather wasn’t the only factor freezing the Yankees. After escaping back-to-back first-inning singles with a 99.4 mph fastball that caught the outside edge for a called third strike on Anthony Volpe, Skubal rolled through the Yankees’ lineup, retiring 16 consecutive batters from the first inning until Paul Goldschmidt’s infield single with one out in the sixth.
Skubal didn’t have to bother getting a feel for many breaking pitches, challenging Yankees hitters with a barrage of fastballs and changeups. His four-seamer averaged 97.4 mph and drew six of his 11 swinging strikes. He mixed in enough sliders to keep them off-balance for seven called strikes.
Tarik Skubal gets Ben Rice looking
After Spencer Torkelson doubled and scored on a Zach McKinstry sacrifice fly to put Detroit on top in the second inning, the Tigers teed off on Yankees starter Carlos Carrasco for three homers in a four-batter span during the fourth. Torkelson sent Carrasco’s first pitch of the inning into the Yankees’ bullpen in left-center for his third homer of the year, then McKinstry and Dillon Dingler — catching in place of an injured Jake Rogers — went back-to-back off Carrasco sinkers.
Carrasco, a longtime AL Central nemesis from his Cleveland days, allowed four runs over 4 1/3 innings before Yankees manager Aaron Boone brought in lefty Ryan Yarbrough to face Carpenter in the fifth. Carpenter pulled a Yarbrough sweeper and golfed it into the right-field seats for his second homer off a southpaw this season.
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Senior Reporter Jason Beck has covered the Tigers for MLB.com since 2002.
