DETROIT — Paul Goldschmidt has spent five years confusing the best pitcher in the American League. On Wednesday night, he did it again, and the timing could not have been better for the Yankees.
The 38-year-old first baseman drove a pair of solo home runs off Tarik Skubal, and Jasson Domínguez added a tiebreaking two-run shot in the sixth, lifting New York to a 4-2 win over the Tigers at Comerica Park. The victory gave the Yankees the rubber match of the three-game series and pushed the team with the AL’s best record to 48-31.
The night belonged to Goldschmidt, who keeps solving a problem the rest of the league cannot. His two homers off Skubal made him the first hitter to go deep twice in a single game against the left-hander since 2021. The last player to do it was Goldschmidt himself.
He hit two home runs off Tarik Skubal on August 25, 2021, when he was with the St. Louis Cardinals. Both were solo home runs in a 3-2 extra-inning win over the Detroit Tigers at Busch Stadium.
A rare feat, five years in the making
Tarik Skubal is a two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner and one of the toughest outs in baseball at home, where he entered the night 20-3 at Comerica Park since 2024. Few hitters have figured him out. Goldschmidt is the exception.
He is now 7-for-13 with four homers in his career against Skubal, a .538 average that ranks among the most lopsided matchups the ace has faced. His four home runs off Skubal are tied with Salvador Perez for the most by any hitter.
Goldschmidt started the damage in the first inning, turning on a 3-1 fastball and sending it 372 feet to left for a leadoff homer. Two innings later he punished a low curveball, driving it 427 feet at 104.9 mph for his 14th home run of the season.
‘There’s not really a recipe’
Goldschmidt has dominated the matchup for so long that even he struggles to describe it. Asked after the game how he keeps getting to one of the sport’s elite arms, he offered no easy explanation.
“I have no idea. Obviously, he’s one of the best pitchers in the game, and facing him is a tough challenge. There’s not really a recipe to try to beat him. He’s got four really good pitches and competes as well as anyone.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone has watched Goldschmidt punish left-handers all season and could only shake his head at the latest performance against Skubal.
“Crazy. [Goldschmidt’s] just so tough on lefties. He’s had a good run against Tarik, who I thought was pretty great tonight. We ran into a few … but I thought Skubal threw the ball really well against us.”
Skubal left searching for answers
Skubal struck out nine and walked none over six innings, but the three home runs undid him. It marked the first time he had allowed three in a game since his first full season in 2021. He refused to lean on his recent return from elbow surgery as an excuse.
“What matters right now is results, and I haven’t been good enough. I haven’t held up my end of the bargain in terms of what my team expects out of me, what I expect out of myself every time I’m out there.”
The ace broke down the two pitches Goldschmidt turned into runs, crediting the hitter rather than blaming his own execution.
“He’s a really good hitter, and he hits left-handed pitching really well. He’s had a heckuva career, and unfortunately he’s hit a few more homers off me in my career, too.”
Where the Yankees stand
Goldschmidt’s power surge has reached a rare level. His 14 home runs this season are more than the combined total of Fernando Tatis Jr., Kyle Tucker and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who have 13. He has also joined a short historical list among older leadoff hitters. Since 1900, only Craig Biggio and Brian Downing have hit more leadoff homers in a season at age 38 or older. Biggio hit seven in 2004 and six in 2006, while Downing had five in 1991. Goldschmidt already has four in 2026.
Goldschmidt’s surge has come at a critical moment for the Yankees lineup. Since Giancarlo Stanton went down, he has hit .327 with 13 home runs and 36 RBIs over 45 games, including four leadoff homers and seven in the first inning.
He leads all of MLB with a 1.321 OPS against left-handed pitching, well ahead of Corbin Carroll’s 1.123. Among AL hitters with at least 200 plate appearances, he ranks third in batting average at .297, fourth in slugging at .568 and sixth in OPS at .923.
The two homers also moved Goldschmidt past teammate Aaron Judge and Dwight Evans, both at 385, for 386 in his career, tying him with Aramis Ramirez for 67th all time. At 38 years and 287 days, he became the eighth-oldest player with a multihomer game while batting leadoff since 1900.
Goldschmidt has also rewritten a Yankees age record by himself. His leadoff homer on June 24, 2026, came at 38 years and 287 days old, making him the oldest Yankee ever to open a game with a home run. He now owns the four oldest leadoff homers in franchise history, all from this season. Derek Jeter’s Aug. 21, 2012, blast at 38 years and 56 days old now ranks behind Goldschmidt’s four 2026 entries.
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