Skubal stung by grand slam as Detroit's surprising run ends with loss to Guards in ALDS

CLEVELAND (AP) — Tarik Skubal's regular season was unforgettable, filled with dominant performances, strikeouts and wins.

His postseason will be remembered for one inning.

And one pitch.

With Detroit's season on the line, the left-hander gave up a grand slam to Lane Thomas as Cleveland tagged Skubal for five runs in the fifth inning of Saturday's 7-3 win over the Tigers in Game 5 of the AL Division Series.

For Skubal and the Tigers, who put together a surprising two-month sprint to make the postseason before sweeping Houston in the wild-card round, the end was bitter and biting.

“Obviously, not the outcome you want, but I’m so proud of this team," said Skubal, who felt he should have given the Tigers more. "It’s incredible what we did. We should be very proud.”

For months, the 27-year-old Skubal was the only positive about the Tigers, who were out of contention and on their way to another third- or fourth-place finish in the AL Central before going 35-16 after Aug. 10.

Skubal led the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts, the pitching triple crown that likely will be followed with the AL Cy Young Award.

He'd gladly trade it for another chance to take the mound in October.

After blanking the Guardians for four innings to extend his postseason scoreless streak to 17 innings, Skubal gave up a leadoff single to Andrés Giménez in the fifth. He struck out Brayan Rocchio before Steven Kwan, who batted .524 (11 for 21) in the series, singled.

David Fry, whose pinch-hit homer in Game 4 helped the Guardians even the series, reached on a weak infield single to load the bases.

Skubal's scoreless run then ended when he hit José Ramírez on the left hand, forcing in Cleveland's first run.

The next four came quickly as Thomas turned on Skubal's first pitch, a 96.9 sinker that got too much of the plate. Cleveland's center fielder sent it over the wall in left-center for his second homer of the series.

“What a swing,” Skubal said. "The moment was the moment. I’d love to have it back, but earlier in the game, they had the bases loaded and didn’t score. In the moment, you’re thinking about executing the pitch and I didn’t do it.

“I thought my stuff was fine all day, even in the fifth.”

Thomas, who grounded out and popped out in his first two at-bats, was thrilled just to make contact against Skubal.

“With the success that that guy’s had this year, you have to respect the fastball at all times,” he said. "He finally threw me one over the plate. I was telling our hitting coach, ‘Man, I’ve never seen someone throw that hard and just locate in on me so well.’

“You just kind of tip your cap. He threw one over the plate ... and I was able to put a good swing on it.”

When he came out after six innings, Skubal was met with hugs and handshakes from all the Tigers.

Manager A.J. Hinch wasn't about to blame his lefty, and made sure his pitcher understood that.

“Obviously, he gave everything that he could and more,” Hinch said. "Today wasn’t his fault. He was in complete control of the game, and wish we would have staked some runs for him to give him a little bit of breathing room, and it was a big blow.

“This one is going to eat at him through the entire offseason because of what was at stake. But give me that guy again in a playoff series, in a playoff-deciding game, and I look forward to putting his name in the starting lineup as a pitcher.”

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Detroit Tigers' Spencer Torkelson takes off his batting gloves after striking out in the seventh inning during Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer)

Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, right, takes relief pitcher Will Vest (19) out of the game in the seventh inning during Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, left, takes relief pitcher Tyler Holton, center, out of the game as Spencer Torkelson (20) looks on in the eighth inning during Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer)

Detroit Tigers' Jace Jung (17) and Trey Sweeney (27) walk out of the dugout into the clubhouse after the Cleveland Guardians defeated them in Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer)

Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal pitches in the first inning during Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal stands on the mound after giving up a grand slam to Cleveland Guardians' Lane Thomas in the fifth inning during Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) reacts as Cleveland Guardians' David Fry rounds third base behind him on a grand slam hit by Lane Thomas in the fifth inning during Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer)

NELSONVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Voters in a ring of congressional districts encircling New York City where Republican candidates often do well but Donald Trump struggled in 2020 could decide which party controls the U.S. House for the next two years.

Eleven districts within a 90-mile drive of Manhattan are expected to be among the country's most closely contested House races on Election Day.

Republicans hold a slim 6-5 edge now in the nearly contiguous circle that starts in the Long Island suburbs, cuts through western Connecticut and New York's Hudson River Valley and Catskills regions, then carves through eastern Pennsylvania before curling back into New Jersey.

Both parties have a shot at picking up seats across the broad territory of dense suburbs, leafy exurbs and former mill towns. Democrats have made the region an important part of their strategy to reclaim a House majority, but voters in the districts have been far from uniform in their thinking in recent elections.

They have been united in two key ways: Most have been open to Republican candidates, but they also have shown an aversion to Trump. That means having the former president at the top of the GOP ballot this year could be decisive in congressional races unless opposition to him has softened or voters in the region are willing to split their tickets.

Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden in all but two of the 11 districts in 2020. Two years later, voters in seven of them sent Republicans to Congress. In three of those districts where Republicans won in 2022, and two more where Democrats prevailed by razor-thin margins, Trump lost to Biden by at least 10 percentage points, according to voting data tabulated by The Associated Press.

It isn’t clear whether the political dynamics that helped Republicans do well outside New York City in the 2022 midterms exist today. In that election, many suburban voters were worried about a spike in violent crime after the COVID-19 pandemic. But crime rates since then have dropped.

“The message environment in 2022 made the battlefields very uphill for Democrats,” said former U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, a Long Island Democrat who once served as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

But in a presidential election year, with Trump in a fierce campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, “the message environment is defined by the top of the ticket.” Israel said. “In these districts, this tends to become a referendum on Donald.”

The ability of Republican candidates to outperform Trump two years ago was illustrated in New York's 17th Congressional District, a suburban area north of the city that is home to the Village of Sleepy Hollow, Sing Sing Prison and such luminaries as Bill and Hillary Clinton and the billionaire George Soros.

Trump owns a golf club and a private estate in the district, but still lost to Biden there by 10 percentage points. In 2022, Republican Mike Lawler narrowly defeated U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat who had been in office for a decade.

Now, Lawler is in a tough campaign against Mondaire Jones, a former Democratic congressman who was one of the first two openly gay Black men to serve in the House when he was elected in 2020. Jones lost his seat when the boundaries of his district were redrawn.

Both candidates have geared their strategies toward attracting moderate voters, while criticizing each other as being in league with radicals.

“People are waking up to the fact that even if they don’t believe Mike Lawler is as bad as Marjorie Taylor Greene, they can’t afford to vote for him because he empowers the chaos and the extremism that we are seeing down in Washington,” Jones told The Associated Press, referring to the far-right congresswoman from Georgia.

Democrats have also claimed that Lawler wants to ban abortion, which the Republican denies. Lawler said Democrats are trying to mislead voters on an issue that has proved to be a winner for many Democrats since the Supreme Court in 2022 ended constitutional protections for abortion rights.

“It speaks to the fact that they have nothing else to discuss or talk about, from the economy to the border to the international crises around the globe,” Lawler told the AP.

Lawler's approach has worked with constituents such as Michelle Patterson, 71, who lives in a small home adorned with Trump flags and Republican lawn signs in the village of Nelsonville.

She described Lawler as “common sense” and Jones as a “radical” and said Democrats are trying to distract voters with their warnings about abortion access.

“He’s not advocating to ban abortion!” she said of Lawler.

For other voters, it’s a harder sell.

“I don’t believe him,” said Jill Ferson, 77, a social worker who lives in the village of Croton-on-Hudson, when asked about Lawler saying he will not support a federal abortion ban.

Ferson said her biggest concerns this election were keeping Trump out of office and preserving abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.

Similar dynamics surface in the other ring districts.

On Long Island, Republican Rep. Anthony D'Esposito is trying to hold onto a congressional district right outside New York City that Biden won by 15 percentage points. D'Esposito is trying to cast Democrat Laura Gillen as soft on crime while criticizing Democrats over immigration policies he blames for an influx of migrants.

Gillen, a former town supervisor, has rejected those criticisms and said that if elected, she would push for more law enforcement and border security.

Northwest of the city, Democrat Josh Riley is trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro, a Republican, in a rematch of their close contest in 2022. The district runs from the Hudson River Valley to the Finger Lakes.

In some New York districts, Democrats could face questions about the indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted bribes and illegal campaign contributions. But Adams is not on the ballot, so that may not matter to voters. While some Republicans have used the scandal to assert that there's rampant corruption in the Democratic Party, Trump has spoken sympathetically about Adams, portraying his prosecution as politically motivated.

In eastern Pennsylvania, a presidential battleground, three perennially contested congressional districts feature incumbents with a knack for survival. They include Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who is chasing a fifth term in a district that favored Biden by 5 percentage points in 2020. His opponent is Ashley Ehasz, a former Army helicopter pilot whom he beat two years ago by almost 10 percentage points.

Solidly blue New Jersey and Connecticut also have at least one competitive race apiece.

In a New Jersey district that includes Trump's Bedminster golf club, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. is seeking a second term against Democrat Sue Altman, a former leader of the state’s progressive Working Families Alliance.

In Connecticut, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes is matched up again with former Republican state Sen. George Logan, whom she defeated by less than 1 percent two years ago in a district Biden won by 11 percentage points.

At a recent debate, Hayes accused Logan of hiding his support for Trump. Logan denied that, but did not say Trump's name once.

This combination photos shows Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., left, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 23, 2023, and Josh Riley in Binghamton, N.Y., Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo)

This combination of photos taken Oct. 18, 2022, in Waterbury, Conn. before a debate shows Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., left, and Republican House candidate George Logan. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this combination photo, Sue Altman speaks at a public forum, Aug. 23, 2016, in Bordentown, N.J., left, and Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., speaks during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo)

This combination photo shows Ashley Ehasz at her campaign headquarters, June 4, 2024, in Bristol, Pa., left, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., at an event in Washington Crossing, Pa., Nov. 6, 2022 (AP Photo)

FILE — Mike Lawler, Republican candidate in New York's 17th Congressional District, greets supporters as he arrives to attend his election-night party, Nov. 8, 2022, in Pearl River, N.Y. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)