DETROIT — Tarik Skubal threw 39 pitches to Padres hitters in the fourth inning on a damp Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park. Then he threw everything he could reach in the dugout.
“Could you feel it? Did the building shake?” manager A.J. Hinch jokingly asked reporters after the Tigers’ 4-3 comeback win. “Because the dugout did.”
It was a snapshot of the frustration in a Tigers season that has gone opposite to plan. It was also why Skubal is worth holding onto as the Tigers try to find a way forward beyond Tuesday’s Trade Deadline.
Skubal’s competitiveness has become increasingly evident since he debuted two years ago. Even this year, as Detroit’s rotation has collapsed around him, the 25-year-old left-hander has refused to let team struggles envelop him and his breakout season.
The win, in which every run off Detroit pitching was unearned, showed Skubal’s potential to lead a staff. He refused to let Harold Castro’s dropped foul ball become a setup for a bad outing. Despite that 39-pitch fourth, he threw six quality innings in 98 pitches, allowing two unearned runs on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
Castro’s error came on the seventh pitch of a 13-pitch walk to Manny Machado, putting two runners on with one out. Luke Voit’s eight-pitch battle for a sacrifice fly saddled Skubal with 21 pitches in a two-batter span. A four-pitch walk to Austin Nola set up Ha-Seong Kim’s go-ahead RBI single.
“I’m more frustrated with the walk than I am [with] the dropped ball,” Skubal said. “No one’s trying to make errors. No one’s trying to drop the ball. At that point, there’s nothing you can do or say except continue to execute pitches. And I didn’t do that.”
Once Victor Reyes’ diving catch in right field finally ended the inning, Skubal took out his frustrations on the dugout wall.
“It’s good to let it out, I think,” Skubal said. “But it’s not where I did it. Usually, I go down the tunnel and that’s where I’ll get those frustrations out. I watched the video, and I was really close to hitting Riley Greene. We kind of joke about it, but you saw the other day in San Francisco [where Carlos Rodón kicked a bat and hit teammate Thairo Estrada]. Stuff like that, it matters, and I would never want to get somebody hurt like that.”
Said Hinch: “Once it’s out, it’s out, and we refocus. I welcome that stuff.”
Skubal retired the Padres in order in the fifth, then pitched around a two-out walk to Voit in the sixth. He bridged the gap to Detroit’s relief trio of Joe Jiménez, Andrew Chafin and Michael Fulmer, whose three innings with an unearned run and five strikeouts kept Detroit in position to rally on Reyes’ two-run walk-off double with two strikes and two outs in the ninth.
“It’s a good test to see where you’re at mentally,” Skubal said. “When you’re physically tired, let’s test the mentals.”
The combination of competitiveness — both against opponents and himself — and Skubal’s five-pitch arsenal is what makes him so valuable. He didn’t want to comment on a report that the Tigers will listen to trade interest on him and nearly everyone else on the roster. His outing was a statement.
A handful of scouts Wednesday saw Skubal, as well as three relievers prominently mentioned in trade interest. In Skubal’s case, there’s a difference between listening to interest and actively talking. Former Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski rarely called any Tigers player untouchable because he always allowed for the possibility of an overwhelming offer. Tigers GM Al Avila learned under Dombrowski for nearly two decades.
In a trade market thin on starting pitching, Skubal — with four more seasons of team contractual control — could attract a major package. But while Skubal could draw the kind of return that could jump-start the Tigers, maybe build a lineup to contend, it would leave them without a frontline starter to match up against good teams. Half the point of Detroit’s stockpiling of top-line starters was to find those guys who could go head to head with good lineups like Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer a decade ago.
The risk is evident at the other end of the division. The Twins have spent five years looking for a frontline starter to complement their formidable lineup. In Skubal, the Tigers might have that guy. Games like Wednesday shows why it would behoove them to keep him.