DETROIT — For four batters Friday night, Tarik Skubal looked like the dominant starter the Tigers saw in Spring Training, overpowering Cubs batters for three strikeouts and a popout behind home plate. But the lefty can ask fellow Tigers rookie starter Casey Mize how quickly Chicago’s hitters can adjust.
Much like the Cubbies turned on Mize’s splitter after a first look last summer, they caught up quickly with Skubal’s fastball-slider combination. And as Detroit looked back on a 4-2 loss that ended its season-high four-game winning streak, it saw another lesson for its young southpaw starter.
Much of the discussion coming out of Skubal’s last start was on his offspeed; he shelved the splitter he had been working on since last winter in favor of a more traditional changeup that worked better with the power in the rest of his arsenal.
The way the Cubs were swinging against Skubal from the second inning on, they seemed to be on everything he offered, regardless of velocity. After four masterful batters and three strikeouts, Skubal allowed eight balls in play with exit velocities harder than 100 mph over his next 17 batters according to Statcast. Kris Bryant’s opposite-field two-run homer in the third inning was actually the softest of the group at 100.7 mph, but Willson Contreras’ ground-ball single before that was at 114 mph. Jason Heyward’s leadoff double in the fifth was a 115 mph line drive; Anthony Rizzo’s double three batters later clattered off the right-field fence at 102 mph.