DETROIT -- The crowd at Comerica Park roared like a wrestling crowd waiting for a star’s signature move to finish a match. Tarik Skubal had Guardians shortstop Gabriel Arias set up with an 0-2 count with two outs in the ninth.
Skubal was in command of everything but his PitchCom headset.
“It was so loud, I couldn’t hear,” Skubal explained later. “[Catcher Dillon Dingler] is going to signs and I’m like, ‘No, bro, just come out here real quick.’”
The mound visit gave the crowd a moment to catch its breath, and for Skubal to find the volume button.
“When I turned it up and got back on the mound, they were quiet,” Skubal said. “I had it at the highest level, and now I’m like, ‘Does the hitter hear?’”
Even if Arias heard everything, it might not have mattered. The ensuing fastball registered at 102.6 mph as Arias flailed at it to finish the 5-0 shutout.
The crowd roared again as Skubal stood and soaked it all in.
“I’m an emotional player. I feed off of energy in the stadiums,” Skubal said. “When everyone’s on their feet, special things kinda happen when you’re in my shoes.
“I knew it was going to come out hot. I didn’t necessarily know where it was going to go, though.”
It was the hardest pitch thrown by a Tiger in the Statcast era, which dates to 2015. Joel Zumaya was informally clocked at 103 mph by stadium radar guns a few times in 2006.
“That’s incredible,” Dingler said.
Skubal's 102.6 mph offering was the fastest strikeout pitch thrown by a Major League starter since pitch tracking began in 2008.
It was also the fastest pitch thrown by a starter in the ninth inning or later under pitch tracking. Former Tiger Justin Verlander had the previous mark at 101.3 mph on July 24, 2009. No other MLB starter has thrown 102 mph or faster any later than the sixth inning during the Statcast era.
“When he’s got full intensity and full throttle, the sky’s the limit,” manager A.J. Hinch said.
It was Skubal’s 94th pitch. He became the second Tiger in as many seasons to throw a Maddux -- a complete-game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches -- joining Keider Montero, who needed 96 to blank the Rockies last Sept. 10.
It was Skubal’s 13th strikeout, most ever by a pitcher in a Maddux, passing the previous mark of 12, shared by Carlos Carrasco (2014), Cliff Lee (2011) and Sandy Koufax (1964).
“Cool,” Skubal said.
Skubal has made a habit of throwing triple-digits over the past couple of years. He had 20 career pitches of 100+ mph entering the day, including a 101.7 mph fastball last June 9 against Milwaukee. He had never thrown one later than the seventh inning.
He had never thrown any pitch in the ninth inning in his Major League career.
“His pitch count was manageable,” Hinch said. “Obviously, we are careful across the industry in how we handle these guys, and the pitch counts have diminished, and the innings totals have diminished. Sometimes it’s your big boy’s day, and you have to leave him out there. And that was an easy decision for me.”
The crowd of 37,031 chanted Skubal’s name as he began the ninth.
“I got a little teary-eyed out there, honestly, before the inning started,” Skubal said. “I just thought to myself, 12-year-old me wouldn’t believe that was an opportunity -- to have a fanbase support you the way it does and be in that moment.”
It was a new memory for Skubal and for the fans that made it to Comerica Park early for the 11:30 a.m. ET start. And it came against a team that had given him one of his toughest memories when last they met.
Skubal insisted Saturday that he isn’t haunted by last October’s American League Division Series loss and Lane Thomas’ go-ahead grand slam that sent Progressive Field into a frenzy, but he is motivated by them. He admitted Saturday to looking back on the Thomas homer, but had no nightmares about the outcome.
Their first meeting Sunday ended in a chopper that Skubal fielded before racing to first base to tag out Thomas himself, prompting Guardians first-base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. to complement him on his defense. The chuckle from Skubal was about as close as Cleveland came to getting him off his game.
Skubal retired Cleveland’s first 15 batters before Will Wilson sent a line-drive double deep to right-center field to lead off the sixth. He ended up being the lone Guardian to reach scoring position. José Ramírez's seventh-inning single was the only other hit.
"He just came right after us,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “It's an 11:35 game, he's throwing 97-99. He's the best. He's the best pitcher in baseball, and he showed it today."