DETROIT — He’s been dominant all season. He’s been especially dominant at Comerica Park since the start of last season.

But on Friday, in the Tigers’ 2-1 win over the Texas Rangers in the first of three, Tarik Skubal might’ve been as dominant as he’s ever been.

He was perfect for five innings and when he walked off to a standing ovation after the seventh, he’d posted a season-high 12 strikeouts and a career-high 32 whiffs on 59 swings.

A couple of two-strike hits were the only blemish. Shortstop Josh Smith poked a ball through the left side of the infield to lead off the sixth inning. And after Skubal hit Ezequiel Duran with a pitch, Sam Haggerty blooped a single to right, scoring Smith.

Skubal went on from there to strike out three of the last five hitters he faced.

In his last six starts, he’s recorded 50 strikeouts and just one walk covering 37 innings.

And before Friday, Skubal was 12-1 with a 1.86 ERA in 19 home starts dating to the beginning of last season.

Skubal came out hot, firing eight fastballs in the first three innings, ringing in between 99.3 and 99.8 mph. He ended up averaging 98.1 mph and hitting 100 in the seventh inning.

He got 13 whiffs on 26 swings with the four-seamer and seven whiffs on 11 swings with the sinker. And with the change-up, he got 11 whiffs on 20 swings.

Powerful performance.

The Tigers scratched single runs off lefty Patrick Corbin in the second and fourth innings, and Colt Keith’s fingerprints were on both.

He scored from first base on a bloop double to left-center by Dillon Dingler in the second. With two outs, he never stopped running, never assumed the ball would be caught.

In the fourth, he ripped a two-out single to score Riley Greene, who walked to lead off the inning and stole second.

The Tigers managed just three hits.

Tommy Kahnle (scoreless eighth) and Will Vest, going through the teeth of the Rangers lineup in the ninth (Wyatt Langford, Johan Heim and Adolis Garcia) earned his fourth save.

It was the Tigers’ fifth straight win, moving them 13 games over .500 to (26-13), their best 39-game start since 2014.

©2025 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.