DETROIT LAKES

— The Detroit Lakes Post 15 legion baseball team welcomed East Grand Forks Post 157 to Washington Ballpark for a Wednesday night doubleheader.

Post 157 dominated the series from start to finish as they took down Detroit Lakes 12-1 in Game 1 and 15-2 in the second contest.

EGF clicked on all cylinders with lights-out pitching and red-hot bats in both games. Detroit Lakes struggled at the plate throughout the night tallying eight hits combined.

“I think we just showed that we were lacking the pitching tonight,” Detroit Lakes co-head coach Zack Oistad said. “When you have seven games in a week, your pitching can run dry at times. We have two more games on Friday so we were stretched thin tonight. The bats didn’t show up either so we have some things to work on.”

Post 15 started off the opening game with a bang as Noah Rieber blasted a solo home run to dead-center field to take a 1-0 lead. Chaz Eckhoff started on the mound for Detroit Lakes. He threw four and one-third innings, allowed nine runs on nine hits, and struck out four batters.

EGF ace Carson McDonald threw a complete game for Post 157. He was efficient on the mound as he threw 87 pitches and 61 were called for strikes. McDonald allowed one run on four hits and fanned 11 batters.

“Their pitching was excellent tonight,” Oistad said. “We got down a bit and lost any momentum that we had. They threw strikes and their defense made all of the plays when we made contact.”

Alex Spect came in for relief and threw two and two-third innings. He allowed three runs on four hits and struck out one batter. Connor Beswick, Kael McArthur, Eckhoff, and Rieber all recorded a hit and Rieber had the lone RBI.

In Game 2, EGF got out to an early lead. Henry Peeters started on the mound for Detroit Lakes and struggled with his control as he walked seven batters. EGF scored two runs in the opening inning. They scored nine runs on four hits in the top of the second to take an 11-0 lead. EGF added a run in the third and three runs in the fourth to take a 15-0 lead. Detroit Lakes scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to trail 15-2.

“We just want the guys to have fun at the end of the day,” Oistad said. “The game of baseball is meant to be fun and we want to get better for the future. I want them to go up to the plate and not watch strike three go by. I want them to be all right with their approach and just shake off the bad at-bats. Stay confident in themselves and do what they’ve been doing for a long time.”

GAME 1: EAST GRAND FORKS 12 DETROIT LAKES 1

EGF – 0 0 2 5 2 1 2 X X – 12

DL – 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1

DETROIT LAKES BATTING – E. Rieber: 0-3; Eckhoff: 1-2; Spect: 0-1; N. Rieber: 1-3, RBI, R; Martin: 0-3; Beswick: 1-3; Wilson: 0-2, BB; Hansen: 0-3; McArthur: 1-2; Bartnes: 0-2

WP: McDonald (EGF); LP: Eckhoff: DL)

GAME 2: EAST GRAND FORKS 15 DETROIT LAKES 2

EGF – 2 9 1 3 0 X X – 15

DL – 0 0 0 2 0 X X – 2

DETROIT LAKES BATTING – N. Rieber: 1-3; McArthur: 1-2; Erickson: 0-1; Eckhoff: 0-2, BB; Wilson: 0-1, 2BB; Hansen: 0-3; Martin: 1-1, R, BB; E. Rieber: 1-3; Peeters: 0-1; Spect: 0-1; Bartnes: 0-1, R, BB

WP: Stassen (EGF); LP: McArthur (DL)

Cooper Kanthak is a sports reporter for the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Perham Focus and Wadena Pioneer Journal. Cooper graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in journalism and minored in digital and social media. He is originally from Pipestone, Minnesota, and has a passion for all things sports. You can reach Cooper at ckanthak@forumcomm.com.

DETROIT (WXYZ) — Today, the Detroit Health Department invited 7 News Detroit along for an up-close look at food safety inspections and discussed the Dining with Confidence ordinance.

RELATED STORY: Dining with Confidence ordinance passed by Detroit City Council

Dining with Confidence ordinance passed by Detroit City Council

Andre Miller, a customer at The Burger Truck said, “Anywhere you dine out. You always want it to be a nice, clean, and safe environment.”

He was pleased to learn The Burger Truck on Cass Avenue was deemed all those things after it passed its food safety inspection just minutes before his visit.

Environmental health specialist Sebrina Johnson performed the inspection.

She said inspectors must wash their hands when entering the food prep area, and “it also gives you the opportunity to make sure they have hot and cold running water.” That’s a problem Johnson said some food trucks run into.

Passing an inspection falls in line with the city’s recently passed ordinance Dining with Confidence. Businesses will be required to display a placard showing their food is safe to eat.

The Burger Truck owner Kamal Alashkar said he’s all for the ordinance.

“I’m thrilled about it because I feel like there’s… an ideology that people think food trucks are dirty just because it’s not like a restaurant that you can’t see inside of it, when it’s honestly the completely opposite. I know a lot of food truck owners that have cleaner food trucks than most restaurants,” Alashkar explained.

Detroit city councilman Scott Benson, who introduced the Dining with Confidence explained, “What sparked this for me was Popeyes Chicken on 7 Mile and Gratiot. It was Church’s Chicken on 7 Mile and Conant where you had the owners of those locations purposely selling tainted rotten food.”

He said the ordinance officially takes effect in October. Establishments like Jolly Pumpkin and Avalon on Canfield are a part of the voluntary pilot program.

RELATED STORY: Popeyes shuts down Detroit location after viral video reports roaches, unsanitary conditions

Popeyes shuts down Detroit location after viral video reports roaches, unsanitary conditions

Jolly Pumpkin and Avalon also passed their inspection.

General manager Jason Vandereyk said, “I tell my staff us managers, we implement it but they’re the ones that execute it, and I’m very proud of every one of my staff that are here.”

So what exactly are inspectors looking for?

VIDEO: Here’s the ‘Dining with Confidence’ inspector checklist

VIDEO: Here’s the ‘Dining with Confidence’ inspector checklist

Environmental health specialist Paul Barry explained, “We have all of our inspectors focus on the risk factors that might lead to a foodborne illness. So, that is proper holding of hot and cold food, proper cooking temperatures, good hygienic practices, sanitizing all their contact surfaces and food from food sources.”

If a restaurant fails to pass inspection, the city says it will get a red placard. However, as Detroit’s chief public health officer Denise Fair Razo explains, that’s not what anyone wants.

“We’re not in the business of shutting down restaurants. That’s not what we enjoy doing. What we do like to do is sit down with the restaurant and foodstuff owner, let them know that they do have violations and we’ll do whatever we can to make sure that they correct those violations, and they’re up to code again,” she said.

Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal didn’t hit the panic button after one bad start.

It’s another sign of a true ace.

Skubal, the frontrunner to win the American League Cy Young Award, allowed five runs (four earned runs) across four innings in last Wednesday’s 7-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves. In his return to the mound Tuesday, he tossed seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts in the 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

BEAST MODE: How Tigers’ Tarik Skubal matured into an Opening Day ace with Cy Young potential

What was the biggest difference in back-to-back starts against two of the best four teams in the National League?

“Just stay consistent and continue to go about my work and focus on executing pitches,” said Skubal, who allowed three hits and one walk to the Phillies. “I don’t think I did a good job of that in my last time out, but I did a much better job with that today.”

The matchup between the Tigers and Phillies on Tuesday featured the best left-handed pitchers in baseball — Skubal for the Tigers, Ranger Suárez for the Phillies — on the mound at Comerica Park. Facing Suárez, the Tigers scored four runs with five singles in the fifth inning, whereas the Phillies never scored against Skubal.

Suárez ranks first in MLB with a 2.01 ERA in 16 starts; Skubal ranks fourth in MLB with a 2.32 ERA in 16 starts, posting 19 walks and 112 strikeouts across 97 innings.

“You know runs are going to be at a premium,” Skubal said of Suárez. “It’s not going to change my approach, but you just know that going in. I’m going to pitch the same game and put my team in a position to win. It took five innings for us to break through, and we finally did in a big way.”

NEWSLETTER: How Tarik Skubal stacks up vs. AL Cy Young winners

To take down the Phillies, Skubal used his pitch mix creatively as catcher Jake Rogers called pitches.

“Same ol’ Skub to me,” Rogers said. “He was dominant. He kept the hitters off balance. That’s a good lineup to go through. Tip of the cap to him.”

The Phillies like to swing at the first pitch, just like the Braves, but Skubal continued to throw first-pitch strikes at an elite rate. (He ranks third in MLB with a 72.1% first-pitch strike rate.) This time, Skubal stayed unpredictable with his first-pitch offerings so the Phillies couldn’t ambush him early in counts.

Entering Tuesday’s start, Skubal averaged 52.4% fastballs — either his four-seamer or sinker — on the first pitch through his first four starts in June, but the first-pitch strategy wasn’t the same in his fifth start of the month.

He threw fastballs for 12 of 23 first pitches (52.2%) to the Braves, but one start later, Skubal threw fastballs for just 10 of his 26 first pitches (38.5%) to the Phillies.

“Coming out, I noticed that they were kind of late on heaters,” Rogers said, “so I figured we’d stay with (fastball) for the first pitch to get ahead. Second time through, they were getting behind in counts and getting 0-2, and no hitter really wants to be 0-2, so I knew after that, they were going to be a little bit more aggressive, so we went more soft (changeups, sliders) early and got some weak contact.”

BUDDIES: Tarik Skubal and Jake Rogers: Friends, crossword puzzle enthusiasts, batterymates

Five of the 10 first-pitch fastballs were in the first and second innings, but Skubal didn’t throw any first-pitch fastballs in the third and fourth innings. He threw the remaining five first-pitch fastballs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

It was a masterclass in pitch-calling from Rogers.

“He’s the one pressing the buttons,” Skubal said of Rogers. “Hats off to him. He does a great job back there. I think he’s pretty creative. He knows hitters. He knows what guys are doing, tendencies, how they look in the box. My job is to go out there and execute what he calls.”

Of Skubal’s seven strikeouts, he utilized finish fastballs to end four of those plate appearances. He got his other three strikeouts with two changeups and one curveball.

As for the fastballs, Skubal froze Nick Castellanos with a down-and-in 99.5 mph sinker, blew away Cristian Pache with an elevated 98.2 mph four-seamer, whiffed Kyle Schwarber with an up-and-away 100.7 mph four-seamer and froze Pache with a down-and-away 98.4 mph four-seamer.

The strikeout to Pache ended Skubal’s seven-inning masterpiece.

He flexed and screamed after his final out.

He was fired up.

Skubal bounced back from a bad start by flummoxing the Phillies — owners of the NL’s best record — with a creative pitch mix. More importantly, he put the Tigers in position to win against the NL’s best pitcher.

Just like a true ace is supposed to do.

“I think it’s just part of the daily grind of the big leagues,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “You’re going to run into some teams that have a good approach or have good success. He’s entitled to have a bad day, which is what he had in Atlanta. I don’t think there was a ton different. He’s a dude. Guys in big moments find a way.”

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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