DETROIT -- The look on Tarik Skubal’s face as Denzel Clarke’s second-inning drive cleared Parker Meadows’ outstretched glove and the center-field fence was one of exasperation. Clarke connected with his 94 mph offering and sent it 422 feet for the Athletics’ second two-run homer off Skubal in as many innings.
Four innings later, as Skubal sent a 91 mph slider past Luis Urías on his 97th and final pitch for his eighth strikeout, he kicked out his leg and let out a yell, seemingly equal parts adrenaline and exhaustion. The Tigers’ 11-4 victory on a hot Tuesday night at Comerica Park wasn’t his best outing, but it was a win against an A’s team that haunted him last season and seemed poised to do the same.
“It’s not the way you want to start a game, but our team picked me up right away,” said Skubal, whose team became the first in the Majors to reach 50 wins this season. “I give up two, they pick me up with two. I give up two more, it takes a couple innings and then we kind of bust it open. I think it was just a great all-around team win.”
Five days after Skubal pitched through rain for his first few innings against the Pirates, he and the Tigers waited out an 81-minute rain delay. Once he took the mound, the A’s took advantage. Skubal’s walk of Jacob Wilson was his first leadoff pass of the season, but the early patience set up Brent Rooker to jump a mistake on Skubal’s next pitch, a 96 mph fastball that the left-hander wanted down and away but left middle-in.
The two-run drive was the first home run off Skubal since May 20, ending a 37-inning homerless streak, and Rooker’s third homer off Skubal in his career. Skubal retired his next five batters before Tyler Soderstrom’s two-out single extended the second inning for Clarke’s second career homer.
With that, the A’s put up as many home runs as Skubal had allowed in the first trip through the order for the season. It was reminiscent of the A’s performance off Skubal in their last visit to Comerica Park, where they nearly spoiled the Tigers’ 2024 home opener with two homers late before the Tigers rallied. Add in a nine-hit barrage last September on the West Coast, and the A’s had left Skubal with two no-decisions in as many meetings last year.
It’s the kind of struggle that would frustrate Skubal in the past, maybe a thrown glove in the dugout, but on Tuesday, he stayed focused on holding it there.
“Anytime you give up four early, you have to kind of grind to keep your team in it,” said Skubal, who earned his 50th career victory. “It becomes even more mental and physical than if you’ve gotten some zeros. That’s just part of the game of baseball, and I”m proud of myself for grinding through it and keeping our team in it.”
Part of that grind came with an adjustment from catcher Dillon Dingler, who tweaked the game plan.
“They were pretty much aggressive on all fastballs,” Dingler said. “He likes starting out pounding the zone. I’m probably a little bit too fastball heavy. But we made the adjustment, started going a little bit offspeed to start, threw changeups, sliders.”
Skubal threw changeups for about a third of his pitches, compared with 30 percent for the season entering the night. The changeup accounted for seven of his 11 whiffs. A’s hitters kept going at it, swinging 21 times, and averaging just 68.1 mph in exit velocity on the handful they put in play.
After his first trip through the order, Skubal settled down to retire nine in a row, including an eight-pitch shutdown fourth inning after his offense handed him a lead. Three singles in Skubal’s last seven batters built a threat, but Skubal ended the fifth and sixth innings with strikeouts, leaving in line for his first win over the A’s since Sept. 21, 2023.
“If he doesn’t keep it together and keep his composure, we probably have a different night for him,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Maybe I have to go get him early. But he settled in and put up some zeros and got the most important out of the night, which was his 18th out.”
That was enough once the Tigers teed off on longtime foe Luis Severino, who lost to Detroit for the first time since 2016. Kerry Carpenter’s first-inning home run, his first homer since his three-homer game on June 2, ended Severino’s 17-inning scoreless streak against the Tigers since 2022. Dingler’s three-run homer in the third put Detroit in front for good.