Tigers avoid disaster as Tarik Skubal dominates, Guardians make ghastly late gaffe

Every time Tarik Skubal is on the mound, the Tigers have their best chance of winning a baseball game; that's just a fact. On Tuesday in Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Guardians, he just reminded everyone of it.

Skubal went 7 2/3 innings, threw a career high 107 pitches, and struck out a career high 14 batters while allowing just a single earned run. Cy Young voting doesn't take the postseason into account, but if it did, his afternoon could turn even the most faithful Garrett Crochet supporters.

The Tigers were hanging on to a one-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth, with Will Vest on the mound after Skubal, and a botched pick from Spencer Torkelson at first on what should've been a first out on Jose Ramirez threatened to spoil it all.

The ball got away from Torkelson and rolled toward the dugout, and Ramirez — speedy as he is — got all the way to third. All the Guardians needed was a sac fly or a well-placed bunt to tie it.

Vest wasn't going to let it happen. He struck out George Valera for his first out on the inning. Kyle Manzardo tapped an infield grounder straight back to Vest, and then Ramirez — maybe the most underrated player in the game and a savvy baserunner — got caught in a rundown at third and was tagged out, and there went Cleveland's best chance of even sending the game to extras.

Tigers take Wild Card Game 1 from Guardians on the back of dominant Tarik Skubal start

Guardians manager Steven Vogt sent out lefty CJ Kayfus to take on righty Vest, but Vest only needed a single pitch to get Kayfus swinging and popping up a ball into shallow left for Javy Báez to catch easily and wrap the game up.

Spoiling a Skubal start that monumental would've been just the latest in a string of bad Tigers baseball — and in the worst possible scenario. The offense still left way too many opportunities on the table, going 1-8 with runners in scoring position and were still swinging much too freely, but an RBI single for Spencer Torkelson in the first and a sacrifice bunt for Zach McKinstry to break the tie in the seventh was just enough.

The Tigers will be right back at it again on Wednesday at 1 PM, where they'll hope to put this series in the books. That was a desperately needed win, and Detroit will be riding that momentum into Game 2.