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Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal Reaches Milestone in Cy Young Race

VaselineSeptember 1, 2024

0 5 minutes read

Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal Reaches Milestone in Cy Young Race

Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal threw a 99-mph fastball — his 98th and final pitch Saturday night — past Boston Red Sox rookie Ceddanne Rafaela for an inning-ending swinging strikeout, the icing on the cake in his first-ever attempt at the eighth inning of his professional career.

Skubal cheered.

Baseball’s greatest pitcher raised his arms and pounded his fist into his glove as he walked backwards off the mound to the strains of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” as a crowd of 34,355 fans at Comerica Park showed their love for their ace with a standing ovation.

“Come on!” shouted Skubal.

CROWN THE KING: How Tigers’ Tarik Skubal Became an Opening Day Ace with Cy Young Potential

Skubal, 27, put the Tigers on his back en route to a 2-1 victory in Saturday’s clash with the Red Sox, throwing eight innings of one-run ball on four hits and no walks with eight strikeouts. After 27 starts, Skubal leads MLB — not just the American League — in all three categories of the pitching Triple Crown: wins (16), ERA (2.51) and strikeouts (201).

“He’s probably the best pitcher in the American League right now,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters after Skubal’s dominance. “This guy, we saw him in spring training, and we knew he was going to have a big year, and that was a statement game for him. He probably should win the Cy Young.”

Probably?

SKUB AND ROG: Tarik Skubal and Jake Rogers: Friends, Crossword Puzzlers, Comrades

Five pitchers have won the Triple Crown in their respective leagues in a single full season since 2000: Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2002, Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins in 2006, Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres in 2007, Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011 and Justin Verlander of the Tigers in 2011.

But only two pitchers since 1966 (when the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax did it for the second straight season) have won an MLB Triple Crown in a full season: Santana in 2006 and the New York Mets’ Dwight Gooden in 1985. That makes Skubal on track to become the third pitcher to win the MLB Triple Crown in a full season in nearly 60 years.

Take it to the bank: Skubal is to go to win the AL Cy Young Award in 2024.

“He’s awesome,” said Jake Rogers, the catcher for each of Skubal’s 27 starts this season. “Team after team, they come to town and say how good he is. He has the absolute confidence to throw it across the plate and tell them, Here it is. It’s fun to catch.”

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Skubal has about four more starts left, but barring an unforeseen performance slump, the All-Star southpaw nicknamed “Skub” will become the first Tiger to win the Cy Young since Max Scherzer in 2013. Before “Mad Max,” it was Verlander in 2011. And before “JV,” it was Guillermo “Willie” Hernández in 1984.

And as for 1984? The Tigers honored that season’s World Series championship team before Saturday’s game against the Red Sox. The pregame celebration for the 40th anniversary set the perfect mood for a career-best eight-inning gem from Skubal.

“We should have them back every game,” Skubal said.

“It was a great environment,” Skubal continued. “The fans were great.”

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Skubal made history in the sixth inning when he struck out Tyler O’Neill with a signature changeup for his 200th strikeout of the season. He will reach 200 strikeouts faster than any other pitcher in 2024.

After the strikeout, Skubal indicated with his left hand that he wanted to keep the milestone ball, but it had already been thrown into the stands. Matt Vierling apparently took the ball from a fan in exchange for another ball.

There was a ball in Skubal’s locker after Saturday’s game, but it was not authenticated.

“I got tagged on something on Instagram,” Skubal said, “and I saw I was at 193, so I knew I needed seven. That’s probably why there was a little more fire behind it in the sixth inning in a situation that wasn’t as big.”

(MUST LISTEN: To make “Days of roar” your favorite Detroit Tigers podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) )

Skubal is the 12th pitcher in Tigers history to strikeout 200 batters in a season — a total of 31 seasons — joining Verlander (six times), Scherzer (three times), Hal Newhouser (twice), Jim Bunning (twice), Mickey Lolich (seven times), Denny McLain, Joe Coleman (three times), Jack Morris (three times), Jeremy Bonderman, Aníbal Sánchez and Matthew Boyd.

He is one of four left-handers on the exclusive list, along with Newhouser, Lolich and Boyd.

“He’s continued to do his job,” Hinch said of Skubal. “I get to see everything. I don’t just get to see the eight innings tonight, or the seven innings routinely, or the dominance, the strikeouts, the low hits, the low walks, the low ERA. I get to see it all. I’m taking it in every day.”

SOMETHING TO KNOW: New workload restrictions? Tigers, Tarik Skubal have been monitoring innings all season

Fans gave Skubal a standing ovation after the seventh inning, but with just 84 pitches thrown in a one-run game while on six days’ rest, Hinch decided not to shake Skubal’s hand at the end of the start. The captain instead gave a fist bump, signaling that the ace would take the mound for the eighth inning for the first time in his 102-game career spanning five MLB seasons.

“They gave him a standing ovation,” Hinch said, “and I thought, ‘No, no, no, you’re going to get out again.’ He went and got his outs. He knew after eight he was done, because he knew what I was going to do in the eighth.”

Skubal has a passion for diving deep into games.

On Saturday night he finally got the chance.

The Tigers’ king, who is vying for the Triple Crown for pitchers in MLB and the AL Cy Young, capped an eight-inning masterpiece with one of his fastest pitches of the game, striking out Rafaela.

“I’m pitching from pitch one,” Skubal said. “I’m emptying the tank from pitch one. There’s not much to save. I don’t really want to save a pitch. What good is saving your best shot when you’re down 4-0? I’m pitching from pitch one. That’s just how I pitch.”

Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show, “Days of Roar,” on demand every Monday afternoon on freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And listen to all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

VaselineSeptember 1, 2024

0 5 minutes read

Vaseline

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