Entering Saturday, Cleveland slugger Franmil Reyes had nine home runs in 61 career at-bats against the Detroit Tigers.
He added another to the total on Saturday night — following two blasts in Friday’s 4-1 victory — as Cleveland turned in a dominant 11-3 win at Progressive Field.
The Tigers (3-5) have lost five of their last six games, including the first two in their three-game series in Ohio.
Detroit allowed five home runs. Three came in the first four innings off of left-handed starter Tarik Skubal, making his second outing in the 2021 season. He gave up six runs total and now has a 7.71 ERA.
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Lefty reliever Tyler Alexander gave up home runs in the seventh and eighth innings to Reyes and Andres Gimenez, respectively, tacking on three runs.
The Tigers take on Cleveland at 1:10 p.m. Sunday in the series finale. Right-hander Jose Urena is starting, opposed by lefty Logan Allen.
Skubal hammered
Command problems continue to trouble Skubal. He started spring training strong, but struggled to locate his fastball later in March.
He had the same issues Saturday, giving up six runs on five hits and three walks. He generated three strikeouts, one each with his splitter, slider and fastball. Also, the spin rate on his esteemed fastball averaged 2,215 rpm, down from an average of 2,422 rpm in 2020.
Skubal allowed three home runs, and they were all no-doubters: Roberto Perez (430 feet, 107.7 mph exit velocity), Cesar Hernandez (399 feet, 105.5 mph exit velocity) and Jordan Luplow (432 feet, 106.9 mph exit velocity). That’s 1,261 feet of homers.
Perez and Luplow crushed Skubal’s fastball, while Hernandez hit his on a splitter. (In the sixth inning, Luplow added a two-RBI double that was a hair from going out off the top of the wall against reliever Bryan Garcia to give Cleveland an 8-0 lead.)
Skubal needed 75 pitches (46 strikes) to get through his four innings. He used 36 four-seam fastballs, 21 sliders, 11 splitters and seven curveballs. He got eight swings-and-misses — five with his fastball, two with his slider and one with his splitter — and 11 called strikes.
Last season, Skubal’s fastball reached 97 mph and sat in the mid-90s. On Saturday, he averaged 93.4 mph and maxed out at 95.4 mph. His opponents had an 91.9 mph average exit velocity.
Silent offense, again
In Friday’s loss, the Tigers only managed one run on four hits and one walk. Righty Zach Plesac tossed a gem, and his opponents couldn’t keep up. The same was true Saturday, as right-hander Aaron Civale beat down Detroit’s offense through 7⅔ innings. He gave up one run on three hits and did not issue a walk. He struck out six batters.
The Tigers’ first run came in the seventh inning, when Robbie Grossman hit his first homer this season. He caught a 89.9 mph fastball from Civale and sent it over the center-field wall for a 392-foot blast.
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Grossman singled out of the leadoff spot in the first inning and again in the ninth inning, finishing with a three-hit performance. The only other hits came on a single from Nomar Mazara and a homer in the ninth inning by Jeimer Candelario.
Lefty Oliver Perez relieved Civale and recorded the final out in the eighth inning. Trevor Stephan pitched the ninth and gave up Candelario’s two-run homer (scoring Grossman). But it wasn’t enough to spark a comeback.
Over the last two games, the Tigers have four runs, nine hits and one walk. On Saturday alone, Cleveland logged 11 runs on nine hits and six walks.
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Lange makes MLB debut
Right-hander Alex Lange made his MLB debut in the fifth inning. He used 16 pitches to retire all three of the batters he faced.
The 25-year-old is the Tigers’ No. 29 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. Detroit acquired him with righty Paul Richan from the Chicago Cubs in the 2019 Nick Castellanos trade.
In his debut, Lange got two soft ground balls. He struck out Reyes on an 85.4 mph curveball on a full count to conclude his outing. He used eight curveballs, four sliders and four four-seam fastballs, earning five swings-and-misses — four with the curveball.
Lange is a former first-round pick (No. 30 overall) in the 2017 draft out of LSU. It was his first regular-season game since finishing the 2019 season with Double-A Erie.
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.