Zyhir Hope picked a pretty good night to remind Detroit Tigers fans why he was such a massive piece of the Tarik Skubal trade.

Hope went 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs Sunday as Double-A Erie survived a wild 11-10 victory over Somerset to clinch the Eastern League Southwest second-half title and its fifth consecutive postseason berth.

The 21-year-old started his night with a first-inning single, but his biggest swing came during Erie’s five-run sixth. With two runners aboard and the SeaWolves having just reclaimed a 6-5 lead, Hope crushed his 28th home run of the season, a three-run shot that suddenly gave Erie a 9-5 advantage.

Hope wasn’t finished. He added another RBI single in the seventh to push the lead to 11-5, a run that turned out to matter quite a bit when Somerset scored five times in the eighth.

Erie eventually held on, and the celebration was on.

Hope Keeps Giving Tigers Fans Reasons to Watch

Hope’s performance matters well beyond Erie’s playoff race.

Detroit acquired him from the Los Angeles Dodgers along with River Ryan and Brady Smith in the blockbuster deal that sent Skubal to Los Angeles. Since arriving, Hope has continued showing the power that made him the centerpiece position player in that package.

We already saw it when Hope delivered a four-hit performance with a homer, double and three RBIs in August. His first hit after joining the Tigers organization was also memorable, as Hope launched a two-run homer for Erie just days after the trade.

Now he is up to 28 home runs in 2026.

And this isn’t some fringe prospect Detroit is hoping develops into something useful. MLB Pipeline currently ranks Hope as the No. 2 prospect in the Tigers organization, behind only Max Clark, with a projected Major League arrival in 2027.

That makes every performance like Sunday’s a little more interesting.

Trading Skubal was always going to put enormous attention on the players Detroit received in return. Hope cannot control that pressure, and one big Double-A game certainly doesn’t determine whether the Tigers won or lost the deal.

But three hits, four RBIs, a huge home run and a playoff-clinching victory?

That’s a pretty good Sunday.