Detroit Tigers starter Tarik Skubal turned in a dominant performance on Monday night, tossing six scoreless innings and striking out nine batters without issuing a walk. The Tigers’ offense provided Skubal with an early lead, as Mark Canha homered in the first inning and Javier Baez singled and scored in the second and fourth innings.
After a slow start to the season, Baez has shown signs of improvement at the plate, going 9-for-32 (.281) with three doubles and five strikeouts in his last 35 plate appearances. Parker Meadows also snapped an 0-for-10 skid with a solo homer in the sixth inning, although he did strike out in his other three plate appearances.
Kerry Carpenter continued his hot streak with a double in the seventh inning, driving in Mark Canha and extending his hitting streak to eight games. Carpenter has now driven in a run in seven consecutive games, the longest RBI streak by a Tiger since Miguel Cabrera’s seven-game streak in August 2013.
The Tigers and Rays will face off again on Tuesday night at 6:50 p.m. ET. Tigers right-hander Kenta Maeda (0-1, 7.64 ERA) will face Rays righty Ryan Pepiot (2-2, 4.37).
