Skubal, Meadows power Tigers to series victory over Orioles

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Jun 12, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — Some nights he comes blazing out of the gates. Other nights, like Thursday, he’s more like an old-time locomotive — a little slow out of the station but gradually picking up steam and power with every chug of his gifted left arm.

Tarik Skubal blanked the Orioles on three hits for seven innings, helping the Tigers take the three-game series at Camden Yards with a 4-1 win. The Tigers, 45-25, have won 16 of 22 series this season (16-5-1) and eight of 12 (8-3-1) on the road.

So if the Orioles were ever going to get Skubal Thursday, it likely had to happen in the first two innings. And it didn’t.

Jordan Westburg led off the bottom of the first and drove a 97-mph four-seamer to the wall in right where Kerry Carpenter caught it with a leap. Skubal gave up a walk and a single in the second. The walk was his first in 26 1/3 innings dating to his start in St. Louis on May 20.

But he ended the threat in the second with a three-pitch punch-out of Colton Cowser and it was full steam ahead from there.

Where his fastball velocity was sitting at 95-96 mph in the first two innings, Skubal was ringing 97, 98 and 99 the rest of the way.

Mostly though, he was attacking an Orioles’ lineup with six right-handed hitters with a heavy dose of power sinkers (he threw 34 of them) which resulted in 12 ground-ball outs through six innings.

He ended up striking out six and allowed only two base runners after the second inning. One was a leadoff walk to Ramon Laureano in the seventh. It was the first time he’s walked a leadoff hitter all season.

Skubal (7-2) lowered his ERA to 1.99.

The Tigers’ offense was contained to one inning.

With one out in the fourth, catcher Dillon Dingler ambushed a first-pitch, center-cut cutter from right-hander Dean Kremer and sent it into the bullpen in left-center. His seventh homer.

Center fielder Cowser, tracking the ball, ran full speed into the wall as if he didn’t know it was there. He crashed hard and was shaken up. But he stayed in the game.

Zach McKinstry and Javier Báez (two hits) followed with singles, getting it to Parker Meadows, who was hitless in his last 12 at-bats. And he fell into a fast 0-2 hole.

Kremer missed with a splitter low and tried to beat Meadows with an elevated 94-mph four-seamer. The pitch was above the zone but Meadows got his barrel to it and destroyed it — 105.5 mph off his bat.

The three-run homer, his first of the season, flew majestically into the right-field seats.

The Tigers put two runners on base after the fourth, one on a walk to Riley Greene, the other McKinstry's second single of the game.

The Orioles got on the board in the eighth against reliever Tommy Kahnle, who tried to sneak a rare fastball by Dylan Carlson. Nope. Carlson, who had three hits, blasted it 406 feet into the seats in right-center.

Will Vest got the ninth and earned his 12th save.