Tarik Skubal earns 17th win as Tigers beat Royals 4-2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tarik Skubal allowed three hits over five innings for his 17th win and the streaking Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Wednesday night to move within a half game of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining.

Riley Greene hit a go-ahead home run as the Tigers (80-73) won their fourth straight and ninth in the last 11 games. With the series sweep, Detroit won for the 25th time in 35 games to move within a half game of Minnesota (80-72) for the third AL wild-card spot.

“These guys, first of all we believe, and second we come every day to try to win the game, and we are winning a lot, which is fun to watch these guys learn and grow and compete until the end of the game,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.

Skubal (17-4), who has won his last five decisions, made his case for the AL Cy Young Award stronger by matching Atlanta’s Chris Sale for the major league lead in wins and lowered his AL-leading earned run average to 2.48. He walked one and struck out seven.

“Really proud of the guys. Last time we came here we were on the other side of the sweep,” Skubal said. “We’ve got a great group, a resilient group. I mean if you just look at the season that we’ve had, I think it shows in this series.”

Skubal had struggled against the Royals in the past, entering Wednesday with a 2-9 record and 5.05 ERA in 12 starts over 14 appearances. After allowing three hits and Yuli Gurriel’s two-out RBI single in the first inning, he threw four hitless innings.

“We put some good at-bats on him early, but once he got the runs, five of the next six hitters were 0-2 counts. He’s coming after us,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Skubal. “But that’s how he pitches. He’s not picking at the corners. He’s got elite stuff and he knows it.”

Skubal screamed after striking out Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez with two on for his final out in the fifth.

“For me it’s always about executing pitches,” Skubal said. “If I can execute pitches at a high clip, I like my chances against anybody, no matter how many times they’ve seen me."

Hinch was happy to see his ace battle through 95 pitches though he wasn’t as sharp as his previous starts.

“It was a big fight for him, but he did a great job,” Hinch said. “Sometimes five is enough, and he did his job by getting the biggest out against his biggest nemesis and showed a ton of emotion. ... If he somehow isn’t able to make pitches to Salvy, who has been good against him, this game’s completely different. He’s our guy. We needed our guy to do his part, and he did."

The Royals (82-71), who lost their fourth straight, were swept for the first time at home this season and the third time overall. They remained 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot and 1 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota for the second wild card. The Orioles and Twins both lost earlier Wednesday.

Skubal struck out major league batting leader Bobby Witt Jr. twice before hitting him with a pitch in the fifth. Witt, who became the first player in major league history with multiple seasons of 30 home runs and 30 steals in his first three seasons Tuesday, broke Hal McRae’s 1977 franchise record with his 87th extra-base hit of the season with a bloop double to lead off the eighth.

Perez then drove in Witt with a single off reliever Brenan Hanifee. Sean Guenther preserved the 4-2 lead with a double play and a fly out. Guenther got the first out of the ninth and Will Vest got the final two for his second save.

Royals starter Alec Marsh (8-9), coming off a career-high 11 strikeouts in his last start, lasted only 2 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks.

Perez and Gurriel, who is hitting .385 since the Royals acquired him from Atlanta, each had two hits for the Royals.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: Rookie 3B Colt Keith is day to day after reinjuring his right shoulder in Tuesday’s game on a diving attempt in the field. He has had a right shoulder problem in three straight seasons. He did not play Wednesday, but Hinch said he would hit in the batting cage during the game. “It could have been much worse,” Hinch said.

UP NEXT

Tigers: Detroit has not announced a starter for Friday’s series opener at Baltimore.

Royals: RHP Michael Wacha (13-7, 3.29) is scheduled to start Friday’s home series opener against San Francisco. Wacha is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in nine career starts against the Giants and 7-2 with a 2.87 ERA this season at home.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Detroit Tigers' Jace Jung (17) beats the tag by Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez to score on a double by Trey Sweeney during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Tigers' Jace Jung reacts after striking out with the bases loaded during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Alec Marsh throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Tigers' Trey Sweeney watches his two-run double during the third inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Tigers right fielder Wenceel Perez catches a fly ball for the out on Kansas City Royals' Tommy Pham during the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. reacts after being hit by a pitch thrown by Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal during the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Tigers' Jace Jung runs home to score on a double by Trey Sweeney during the third inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Tigers' Jace Jung (17) beats the tag by Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez to score on a double by Trey Sweeney during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Tigers' Jace Jung slides home to score on a double by Trey Sweeney during the third inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Royals center fielder Garrett Hampson catches a fly ball for the out on Detroit Tigers' Trey Sweeney during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal throws during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

New Jersey Transit train engineers went on strike Friday, leaving an estimated 350,000 commuters in New Jersey and New York City to seek other means to reach their destinations or consider staying home.

Groups of picketers gathered in front of transit headquarters in Newark and at the Hoboken Terminal, carrying signs that said “Locomotive Engineers on Strike” and “NJ Transit: Millions for Penthouse Views Nothing for Train Crews.”

Friday’s rail commute into New York from New Jersey is typically the lightest of the week. In New York, some commuters from New Jersey said they could not work remotely and had to come in, taking busses to the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan.

David Milosevich, a fashion and advertising casting director, was on his way to a photo shoot in Brooklyn. At 1 a.m. he checked his phone and saw the strike was on.

“I left home very early because of it,” he said, grabbing the bus in Montclair, New Jersey, and arriving in Manhattan at 7 a.m. “I think a lot of people don’t come in on Fridays since COVID. I don’t know what’s going to happen Monday.”

The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn’t produce an agreement. It is the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.

“We presented them the last proposal; they rejected it and walked away with two hours left on the clock," said Tom Haas, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri described the situation as a “pause in the conversations.”

“I certainly expect to pick back up these conversations as soon as possible,” he said late Thursday during a joint news conference with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. “If they’re willing to meet tonight, I’ll meet them again tonight. If they want to meet tomorrow morning, I’ll do it again. Because I think this is an imminently workable problem. The question is, do they have the willingness to come to a solution.”

Murphy and Kolluri planned a Friday morning news conference.

A few blocks from the Port Authority bus terminal, the NJ Transit train terminal was quiet, with an NJ transit worker in an orange hoody on hand to warn riders it was closed, Signs read: “service suspended.”

The South Amboy train station, an express stop on the NJ Transit rail line, was vacant. But the Waterway ferry that began service only 18 months ago from a waterside launching point that’s a 10-minute walk from the train station was busier than usual for its 6:40 a.m., 55-minute nonstop trip to Manhattan.

The ferry runs once an hour during the morning and evening commutes. With about three dozen people aboard, more than half the seats in the ferry’s lower deck were empty.

Murphy said it was important to “reach a final deal that is both fair to employees and at the same time affordable to New Jersey’s commuters and taxpayers.”

"Again, we cannot ignore the agency’s fiscal realities,” Murphy said.

The announcement came after 15 hours of nonstop contract talks, according to the union.

NJ Transit — the nation’s third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City’s Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.

The agency had announced contingency plans in recent days, saying it planned to increase bus service, but warned riders that the buses would only add “very limited” capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and would not start running until Monday.

However, the agency noted that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengers — only about 20% of current rail customers — so it urged people who could work from home to do so.

Earlier, even the thread of a strike caused travel disruptions. Amid the uncertainty, the transit agency canceled train and bus service for Shakira concerts Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the matter, and a mediator was present during Thursday’s talks. Kolluri said Thursday night that the mediation board has suggested a Sunday morning meeting to resume talks.

Wages have been the main sticking point of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen that wants to see its members earn wages comparable to other passenger railroads in the area. The union says its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and says an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000.

NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.

Kolluri and Murphy said Thursday night that the problem isn’t so much whether both sides can agree to a wage increase, but whether they can do so under terms that wouldn’t then trigger other unions to demand similar increases and create a financially unfeasible situation for NJ Transit.

Congress has the power to intervene and block the strike and force the union to accept a deal, but lawmakers have not shown a willingness to do that this time like they did in 2022 to prevent a national freight railroad strike.

The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more of its members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 450.

Associated Press reporters Cedar Attanasio and Larry Neumeister in New York, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

An information screen informing commuters of the rail service suspension, due to the strike by Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, inside Newark Penn Station on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

An information screen informing commuters of the rail service suspension, due to the strike by Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, inside Newark Penn Station on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

An empty PATH train platform with an information screen informing commuters of the rail service suspension, due to the strike by Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, inside Newark Penn Station on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen form a picket line outside the NJ Transit Headquarters on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

An electronic display advises commuters of NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

An NJ Transit train pulls into the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

An electronic display advises commuters of potential NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen form a picket line outside the NJ Transit Headquarters on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen form a picket line outside the NJ Transit Headquarters on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)