BALTIMORE (AP) — Seven shutout innings. Only three hits allowed, along with two measly walks.
Almost every pitcher in the big leagues would be delighted with those results. Not Detroit Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal, who wasn’t fully satisfied with his performance in on Thursday night.
“I was kind of fighting myself early, and as the game wore on, I felt like I got better,” Skubal said. “I’m probably more proud of grinding it out than when you’re on early.”
On a hot, humid night at Camden Yards, the 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner looked rather ordinary in the first inning. Baltimore’s leadoff hitter, Jordan Westburg, whacked a drive to right that was caught by leaping Kerry Carpenter at the wall. Two batters later, Gunnar Henderson singled.
Skubal then walked Coby Mayo in the second inning and Ramón Laureano in the seventh. The two free passes were the most he’d allowed since April 2.
“During my next bullpen,” Skubal said with a wry smile, “I’ll go work on my command.”
When you’re almost always sharp and that overpowering, it’s difficult tough to cope when things don’t go perfectly. Skubal (7-2) threw 98 pitches, 74 in the strike zone, but those 24 other pitches caught his attention.
“I just think my misses were kind of bigger than they usually are,” he said.
Tigers manager AJ Hinch was impressed with the results, but acknowledged that Skubal wasn’t quite as impressive as usual.
“He didn’t quite have the command he normally has,” Hinch said. “That doesn’t mean he had bad command tonight. It just means it was sort of not perfection. If that’s your off day and it’s seven scoreless, that’s pretty good pitching.”
With his sixth scoreless start of the year, Skubal lowered his ERA to 1.99. Yet, he was off his game just enough to draw a good-natured quip from his manager.
“He did walk a couple guys,” Finch noted, “so we’re going to have him work on some things.”
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