Cleveland – Jake Rogers lay face down on the plate. If this were a crime scene, his silhouette would have been drawn in chalk.
In a way it was a crime scene.
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Somehow, the Tigers catcher turned a 261-foot lob to center field into a minor league, two-run homer, essentially stealing home, helping spark an 8-2 victory over the Central Division-leading Cleveland Guardians in the first of four at Progressive Field on Monday night.
“That was amazing,” said Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal, who improved to 11-3 and lowered his ERA to 2.34 with seven spirited innings. “For him to be safe was even better. And then the starfish at the plate. Awesome.”
Rookie Justyn-Henry Malloy led off the Tigers with a two-run homer in the first inning off veteran right-hander Carlos Carrasco. It was his seventh homer, his fourth this month.
Rogers then came up to bat with Wenceel Perez on third and two outs in the second. Center fielder Angel Martinez made a diving attempt to catch his soft sinking liner. The ball got away from him and then, once he ran it, he slipped and fell and had to shovel the ball to right fielder Jhonkensy Noel.
“I knew it was going to be a three because he had his back turned,” Rogers said. “I was digging and I looked up and saw Joey was freaking out.”
Third base coach Joey Cora wasn’t going to let Rogers stop at third. Noel got the ball in quickly, and shortstop Brayan Rocchio made a hard throw to the plate. The ball went past Rogers, but somehow, sliding headfirst, arms outstretched, he eluded the tag.
“I was giving it my all,” Rogers said. “I was ‘running,’ as the guys like to say when I run. As soon as I slid, I knew I was safe. I didn’t feel him touch me. When they checked it, I was a little worried. I was pretty sure he had scored. I tried to get out of the way as best I could.”
The Guardians challenged the decision not to throw the pitch, but the decision was upheld. The image of Rogers lying face down at home plate is priceless.
“I told the trainers we needed an oxygen mask for him,” Skubal said. “He came down to the tunnel and I put the ventilator on him. I said, ‘Bro, you need to breathe.'”
The play was ruled a triple and an error was assigned to Martinez, which Rogers questions.
“I have to appeal that,” he said. “I didn’t see the play, but I asked and I guess (Martinez) fell and the right fielder threw the ball. I don’t know if the fall was an error. To me it was a home run.”
But all that mattered was that the Tigers had given Skubal a four-run lead.
“After scoring four runs in the first two innings, I can attack guys,” Skubal said. “I’m just trying to keep the ball in the yard. It’s hard to score a lot of runs from one station to the next.”
Skubal, despite having to shake off some rust after not making a start since July 12 and allowing a career-high 10 hits, never let the Guardians into the game.
“They’re a good team,” Skubal said. “They have 59 wins for a reason. They don’t strike out a lot. They put the ball in play and make things happen when they put guys in scoring position. My job was to try to get them to hit guys at times and I think I did a good job.”
PLAYER SUMMARY: Tigres 8, Guardians 2
Eating all seven innings was vital with the Tigers deploying bullpen games on Tuesday and Thursday in this series.
“They had a good game plan against him, one through nine,” Rogers said. “They really did. But even when you have a good game plan, it’s hard to get a lot of hits in a row and Skub did a really good job of getting soft contact and a double play when he needed it.”
The Guardians appeared to be taking advantage of Skubal’s changeup in certain counts. He had seven strikeouts on 14 swings with it, but also had an average exit velocity of 92 mph in the six he put in play.
“They were going to take advantage of what they gave him,” manager AJ Hinch said. “If you look at those hits that Tyler Freeman was getting (three of them), (Jose) Ramirez’s hits, both to right field and right center, made it a team-wide commitment to not take the ball away from him and let him use his changeup.
“It was the best approach I’ve seen against Tarik this year.”
Skubal struck out six, fewer than he usually does, and missed 15 pitches on 54 swings, also fewer than he usually does. But he won the important at-bats. He induced a 1-4-3 double play to end the third inning, stranding two runners. He struck out Kwan to strand two in the fourth inning. He pitched around a Martinez double leading off the fifth inning, striking out Jose Ramirez on three pitches.
The only run scored was a two-out, bases-loaded bunt by catcher Austin Hedges in a laborious second inning that cost Skubal 28 pitches. But even in that inning, he was able to rally from a 2-0 deficit against Steven Kwan and get him out on a bases-loaded flyout to end the inning.
“I put myself in danger and when he popped out, I felt like I gained a little bit of momentum from that point and was able to limit them to one run,” Skubal said. “But it was grueling. Ten hits. I felt like every inning I was working from the end. But that’s where the most important pitches are made, from the end.”
Matt Vierling (two doubles) and Mark Canha each had three hits. Canha and Perez (two hits) hit back-to-back doubles to score a run and chase down Carrasco in the sixth. Perez, who advanced to third on a throw to the plate, scored the sixth run on one of Gio Urshela’s two sacrifice flies.
Rookie Colt Keith, who hit the ball hard three times with nothing to show for it, hit his 10th homer of the season in the ninth.
The Tigers (50-51) have won four of their last five games against the Guardians. They also have the best record in baseball in July (12-5).
“This is team baseball,” Skubal said. “We’re doing everything, playing good defense, having timely offense and pitching well. That speaks to the guys in this room. There are a lot of guys who believe in winning every day. And we look forward to doing it again tomorrow.”
Chris McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky