KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Here’s something you don’t see every fifth day — an opposing starting pitcher going toe-to-toe with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.

But we saw it for seven innings Saturday at Kauffman Stadium before the Kansas City Royals broke through in the bottom of the eighth inning off reliever Beau Brieske and ended the Tigers’ five-game winning streak, 1-0.

"The rhythm is good," Skubal said of his duel with Royals' veteran righty Michael Wacha. "You get in the dugout, sit for a minute and go back out there. In that aspect, you pay attention to it. But I can't compete against their starting pitcher. I'm competing against their lineup, those guys in the box. That's where I need to keep my focus.

"He was pretty good today. But the last thing I need to do is compete with him and their hitters. That's putting more on your plate than need be."

Wacha dominated the Tigers’ lineup and didn’t allow a hit for 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six and allowed almost no hard contract.

Finally with one out in the seventh, Colt Keith smacked a single up the middle, the only blemish on Wacha’s line. Keith had the Tigers' only two hits on the day.

"Yeah, it's frustrating," said Keith. "He doesn't have anything he can really blow past us like Tarik does. But he was spotting up and doing what good pitchers do and it definitely makes for a frustrating outing."

The Tigers put 16 balls in play against Wacha and had an average exit velocity of just 82 mph.

"He really had his way with us because he could disrupt timing," Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. "Tarik was pretty dominant the way he always is with his fastball and his change-up was really good. Wacha is an excellent pitcher, as well, and he does it a little differently than Tarik.

"The art of pitching, it was on display: disrupt timing, move the ball around, not throw the same pitch twice, pound the zone early and get you to chase late. He did all of that and we had no answer."

Wacha has one of the best change-ups in the game (.180 opponents' average) and he was using it liberally against the Tigers. Pairing it off a 94-mph four-seamer, he kept the Tigers in-between and off-balance throughout the game.

"He's got two different kinds," Hinch said. "Some he moves with more depth and some he doesn't. And sometimes just the threat of it is just as big a weapon as him actually throwing it."

The Tigers missed some hittable fastballs, either being late or taking them largely because the change-up was in the back of their mind.

"All in all, he outpitched our lineup," Hinch said.

Skubal matched him zero for zero, allowing two singles with seven strikeouts and eight ground-ball outs. He’s not allowed a run in 16 straight innings.

"At the end of the day, we didn't win," Skubal said. "That's more important than anything I'm doing myself."

Skubal has arguably the best change-up in the game. And the Royals put eight right-handed hitters in the lineup against him, almost inviting him to throw it. Instead, Skubal attacked with 97-mph sinkers, throwing 40 of them, and dominated the inner half of the plate. He broke a few bats, got his strikeouts and got the Royals to beat balls into the ground.

"That's how I'm going to neutralize a lot of righties, just in general," Skubal said. "It's about executing pitches and standing them back up so they can't lean over the plate and cover stuff away."

He also got some stellar defense. Shortstop Trey Sweeney and second baseman Gleyber Torres made deft plays to steal hits off hard-hit ground balls. Catcher Dillon Dingler erased one of the singles by throwing out Nick Loftin trying to steal second base in the fifth.

Both starters departed after seven, Wacha at 99 pitches, Skubal at 90.

"I felt good but I trust what AJ does," Skubal said of being pulled after seven. "He's always got a really good plan and I trust the guys in the bullpen. I am always trying to pitch as deep as I can and then turn it over to those guys. They've been really good.

"Giving up one run shouldn't lose a lot of games."

Hinch went to Brieske in the eighth.

"They had an all left-handed bench," Hinch said. "If we could flip them we'd have some options late. And Beau can get outs. His ability to handle the left-handed hitters which we knew they would go to made Beau a good matchup."

Brieske got lefty pinch-hitting Drew Waters to start the eighth but right-handed hitting Loftin lashed a double to the wall in left. Brieske got two strikes on lefty Vinnie Pasquantino. He threw a 96-mph four-seamer well off the outside edge of the plate but Pasquantino was able to slap it into left-center to score Loftin.

It's the fourth time the Tigers (38-21) have been shut out this season.

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