LAKELAND, FL – The Detroit Tigers lost to the Minnesota Twins, 3-0, on Monday, Feb. 23, at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in spring training.
Detroit is 0-2 in Grapefruit League play.
What happened
Left-hander Tarik Skubal, the back-to-back American League Cy Young winner, and right-hander Drew Anderson, a former 21st-round draft pick who spent the past four seasons in Asia, dominated across four scoreless innings, with Skubal pitching the first and second and Anderson pitching the third and fourth.
The duo combined for seven strikeouts without any walks, though the Twins collected three hits.
The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning when Emmanuel Rodriguez – a 22-year-old outfielder ranked by Baseball America as the Twins’ No. 2 prospect – hit a solo home run off left-handed reliever Brant Hurter, a 2021 seventh-round draft pick from Georgia Tech. He crushed a 91.7 mph sinker in the middle of the strike zone.
Rodriguez blasted Hurter’s sinker with a 106.6 mph exit velocity, sending it 420 feet to right field.
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Tarik Skubal starts it up
Skubal completed two scoreless innings.
He threw 21 of 31 pitches for strikes.
In the first inning, Austin Martin and Brooks Lee collected singles against Skubal, with Martin lining a middle-middle changeup and Lee flaring an up-and-in fastball.
Skubal struck out the final two batters swinging in the first inning, stranding the runners. He struck out Ryan Jeffers with an inside sinker and Matt Wallner with an elevated fastball.
In the second inning, Skubal retired all three batters he faced: ex-Tiger Gio Urshela (groundout), Rodriguez (strikeout) and Aaron Sabato (strikeout). Both Rodriguez and Sabato struck out swinging on fastballs.
For his 31 pitches, Skubal threw 14 four-seam fastballs, eight changeups, four sliders, four sinkers and one curveball. The 29-year-old averaged 96.5 mph with his fastball, maxing out at 98.9 mph. Additionally, his fastball velocity increased from 95.9 mph in the first inning to 97.2 mph in the second inning.
Skubal generated eight whiffs on 19 swings with four fastballs, three changeups and one sinker.
At the plate
The Tigers were limited to just three hits.
The best scoring opportunity came in the first inning, Matt Vierling – an outfielder making his comeback from an injury-plagued season – ripped an up-and-in sinker from right-hander Mick Abel – a former first-round draft pick acquired by the Twins with catcher Eduardo Tait from the Philadelphia Phillies for reliever Jhoan Duran at the 2025 trade deadline – down the right-field line and into the corner, legging out a triple.
The Tigers stranded Vierling with three strikeouts in a row from right-handed-pitching slayer Kerry Carpenter (97.1 mph fastball, swinging strike), Gleyber Torres (95.4 mph fastball, called strike) and Riley Greene (95.7 mph fastball, swinging strike).
Greene struck out on three fastballs in a row.
It was part of Abel’s five straight strikeouts, continued by shortstop-turned-center fielder Javier Báez (79.1 mph curveball, swinging strike) and breakout candidate Colt Keith (87.1 mph changeup, swinging strike) in the second inning.
Abel tossed three scoreless innings on two hits and zero walks with five strikeouts, throwing 29 of 46 pitches for strikes.
On the mound
After Skubal, the Tigers turned to Anderson for the next two innings.
The 31-year-old signed a one-year, $7 million contract in mid-December after two seasons for the SSG Landers in South Korea, which includes a $10 million club option for 2027. He hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2021 with the Texas Rangers.
Anderson impressed in his first spring outing.
He completed two scoreless innings and threw 16 of 28 pitches for strikes.
The only action for the Twins was only a one-out single in the third inning from Martin, who stole second base but was stranded when the next two batters were sent down. All three batters were retired in the fourth inning.
The three strikeouts: journeyman infielder Tristan Gray (95.4 mph fastball, called strike), former second-round draft pick Luke Keaschall (89 mph changeup, swinging strike) and Wallner (80.8 mph curveball, swinging strike).
For his 28 pitches, Anderson used 13 fastballs, nine curveballs, five changeups and one slider, with his fastball averaging 95.3 mph. He generated four whiffs on 12 swings with one fastball, one curveball and two changeups.
In the seventh inning, journeyman catcher Alex Jackson hit a solo home run off right-handed reliever Beau Brieske, who is trying to bounce back after an elbow injury derailed his performance last season.
Jackson hit Brieske’s slider below the zone for a solo home run, making it a 3-0 lead for the Twins.
Three stars
1. Drew Anderson, 2. Tarik Skubal, 3. Matt Vierling.
Next up
Tuesday vs. Atlanta Braves in North Port (1:05 p.m.)
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tarik Skubal dominates for Detroit Tigers in spring training debut
