BALTIMORE -- Tarik Skubal’s run of dominance over the past few weeks has drawn comparisons to Justin Verlander during his American League Most Valuable Player season in 2011. But as Skubal overpowered Orioles hitters in his seventh and final inning of Thursday night’s 4-1 Tigers win, the more apt ex-Tiger comparison might have been Max Scherzer.
When Scherzer blossomed into a Cy Young Award-winning pitcher with the Tigers in 2013, he forged a mindset that he wanted his last 15 pitches of an outing to be his best, something he has carried through his career. Yes, doing so usually means a good outing overall. But for Scherzer, it reflected a desire to have something extra at the end of an outing and emptying the tank, no matter how tough the preceding innings might have been.
Skubal has never looked at his outings that way. He prefers to throw every pitch with intensity, arguing that the biggest out of a game could be in the early innings. But as he saw the finish line to Thursday’s outing and seven scoreless innings, he found another level.
Skubal hadn’t walked multiple batters in an outing since April 2 at Seattle, but he was clearly irked that he walked Ramón Laureano to lead off the seventh. As the crowd at Camden Yards came to life, Skubal spotted a 96.5 mph fastball on the outside edge to Ramón Urías, then got him to miss a 89.3 mph slider in the zone. The combination set up a changeup in the dirt for Skubal’s fifth strikeout of the night.
Skubal challenged Jackson Holliday with a first-pitch sinker for a flyout to left, then went to work on Coby Mayo, whose second-inning walk was Skubal’s first pass in 26 1/3 innings since Victor Scott II drew one on May 20 in St. Louis.
The first-pitch 98 mph sinker to Mayo tucked into the inside corner for a called strike.
The second-pitch changeup at 89 mph sent Mayo flailing for strike two.
After an 0-2 changeup in the dirt, Skubal fired a 98 mph sinker in the middle of the zone. He let out a yell as Mayo fanned on it for Skubal’s sixth and final strikeout.
On a hot, muggy night in Baltimore, Skubal pulled a Scherzer, whether he intended it or not.
“I was kind of fighting myself a little bit early,” Skubal said. “As the game wore on, I felt like I got better. That’s probably what I’m the most proud of. If you look back at my games, sometimes you’re on from pitch one, and sometimes it takes a little bit. I’m probably more proud of grinding it out in those types of performances than when you’re on early.”
Any signs of lesser stuff were relative.
Jordan Westburg led off Skubal’s outing with a fly ball that sent right fielder Kerry Carpenter to the warning track for a leaping catch. Gunnar Henderson and Dylan Carlson singled, but Mayo’s walk might have been the most obvious sign, a 98 mph sinker on a 3-2 pitch that just missed the bottom of the strike zone to start a two-out rally in the second.
“I think my misses were a little bit bigger than they usually are,” Skubal said. “So kind of easier takes. I think when you miss big, it’s easy to take, and it’s a wasted ball instead of something that’s competitive and close.”
Skubal fanned Colton Cowser on a 98 mph fastball to strand runners at the corners in that inning, then retired eight in a row until Carlson singled again in the fifth. After flummoxing O’s hitters with changeups for 12 whiffs in an 11-strikeout performance at Comerica Park on April 27, Skubal flipped the script Thursday and pounded them with sinkers.
“Honestly, when you’re pitching, you kind of go with what’s working,” Skubal said. “My four-seam command wasn’t great.”
The resulting 12 ground-ball outs were the most Skubal has recorded in a game in his big league career, according to Inside Edge.
“Six punchouts, is that right? I think that's the positive for us,” O’s interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “I mean, we battled, we put the ball in play. He's doing that to everybody right now, so tip your cap to him.”
Skubal (7-2) has allowed one run on 15 hits and two walks over 30 2/3 innings across his past four starts, striking out 32 batters. Still, he doesn’t do it like this very often. He’ll work on his command in his next bullpen session, he joked, but he’s proud of this one.
“I felt like I finished stronger than I started,” Skubal said. “That’s why the emotion came out.”