HOUSTON (AP) — 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 .
Down 3-0 entering the ninth, Houston scored on Yanier Diaz’s RBI single and had the bases loaded when Jason Heyward hit a game-ending lineout against Beau Brieske.
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.
Yordan Alvarez, playing for the first time since spraining his right knee Sept. 22, doubled off Jason Foley starting the ninth inning. Pinch-runner Zach Dezenzo and moved to third on Alex Bregman’s infield single and Diaz singled on a grounder to right.
Jeremy Peña sacrificed, Brieske relieved and Victor Caratini flied out to short left. Chas McCormick and Brieske retired Heyward for the save.
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.
Detroit pounced on him in the second. Wenceel Pérez singled with one out before, Spencer Torkelson walked and Parker Meadows grounded into a forceout that left runners at the corners.
Jake Rogers, Trey Sweeney and Matt Vierling hit consecutive RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.
The Tigers had a runner on third with two outs in the third when Peña made a diving catch at shortstop on Torkelson’s liner.
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.
He joined the Tigers after his suspension was up and guided the team back to the postseason with a 31-13 finish to the regular season.
The Astros, in the postseason for a franchise-record eighth straight season, had won a MLB-record 10 consecutive postseason openers. They played their 98th postseason game since 2017.
On Wednesday, the Tigers plan to use an opener and then go to their bullpen in Game 2. RHP Hunter Brown (11-9, 3.49) starts for the Astros. Hear all of the action on your home for Astros baseball, SportsTalk790.