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Skubal continues to fuel the Tigers’ emotional fire

Vaseline October 8, 2024

Cleveland — Tarik Skubal was a bit sheepish about it afterwards.

As he walked off the mound in the sixth inning, leaving a runner on third base and receiving an inning-ending double play ball from David Fry, he stretched his arms wide and appeared to beckon the sold-out and hostile crowd at Progressive Field. to bring it, let’s hear it.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know what that was,” he said, laughing. “I don’t know what that was. I’ve never done that before in my life.”

It was the release of raw emotions and no jury would convict him for that. Given the circumstance the Tigers found themselves in, one game behind in a best-of-five playoff series, given the margin for error – none, which is how many points the Tigers had scored in the series at that point – Skubal, as not his best game this season, certainly the most important so far.

He dominated the Guardians through seven innings, allowing just three hits, before Kerry Carpenter’s three-run, ninth-inning home run off closer Emmanuel Clase gave the Tigers a 3-0 win on series night.

“Give all the compliments to Skub,” said Beau Brieske, who pitched an error-free ninth inning to close the game. “He’s the best pitcher in the world. That’s what it’s like to watch him because that’s what he is.”

Skubal, who bullied the Guardians’ batters with powerful four-seam, two-seam fastballs, retired the first 13 batters before giving up a double to Josh Naylor with one out in the fifth. He seriously incurred the wrath of the Guardians faithful when he drilled the next batter, Jhonkensy Noel, in the arm with a two-seamer at 90mph.

The field wasn’t that far from the plate. Noel’s arm was extended almost into the strike zone. But it didn’t matter, the crowd angrily booed Skubal.

“Obviously, I never try to hit anyone,” Skubal said. “The field was barely finished. But you never try to hit anyone. And I made sure he was good at first base. I would hate for his hand to break or something and him to be out for the rest of the postseason. It would just suck everywhere.”

Skubal heard the cheering, but it didn’t bother him. In fact, he silenced them on the very next pitch, forcing Andres Gimenez into a 4-6-3 double play.

Skubal stomped and screamed his way back to the dugout.

“I don’t really know where I was mentally at in those situations,” he said. “But I probably shouldn’t say bad words when there are cameras pointed at me with kids watching. It was just emotion, raw emotion. First of all, the environment here was great. I think Cleveland fans found this environment incredible to play in. Hostile, all that stuff you dream of playing and pitching for as a kid.’

In the sixth he ran into trouble again. No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio bounced a ball over the bag at third base for a double with one out, and Steven Kwan followed with a jam-shot single to left.

But once again, Skubal was undeterred. He turned in another double play, on a softly hit grounder by Fry. Shortstop Trey Sweeney and second baseman Colt Keith made a quick and educational pivot.

“Sweeney has been in the big leagues for a few months now and he continues to impress me every day,” Carpenter said. “The double play he started with, everything he does at the plate. It is extremely impressive.”

Skubal agreed.

“Our defense was tremendous,” he said. “Especially against a team like this where runs are at a premium just because of what they can do with the bullpen and their starting pitching and the way they play defense as well. Defense is a big part of the win today.”

Even after the emotion he exuded at the end of the fifth and sixth innings, Skubal still had the poise to gather himself and throw a clean seventh inning, still firing 98-mph heaters.

“It’s run by Tarik,” manager AJ Hinch said. “He’s as emotional as you can get at the right time, at the right volume. He can reset and do his thing. And this is what October was built for. It’s also built for October. It is so rewarding to see our boys play calmly, play at ease, play competitively and ultimately play like a winner.”

Skubal, who struck out eight without a walk, threw 66% of four-seamers and two-seamers and had 17 called strikes on those two pitches, along with seven whiffs on 12 swings with his changeup.

“You watch him over and over again and you wonder when the big moment is, when the big strikeout is, when the big pitch is. How playful he will be with the crowd, especially on the road,” Hinch said. ‘But overall he’s really focused on being among the elite. He wants to lead this team, and he does. It’s one thing to want it. It’s another thing to go out and do it.

“And he showed dominance today against a strong team that puts the ball in play. And yet he finds the swing and misses. They create momentum, and yet he can kill it.”

Skubal would be in line to throw Game 5 at Progressive Field on Saturday if the series gets that far. In the meantime, he’ll be in the dugout urging his guys to win the next two and advance that next start to Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

“I can’t say enough about Skubal,” Carpenter said. ‘He is our leader. Every inning he got out there, even if he got in trouble today, no one in our dugout thought he wasn’t going to get out. He’s incredible.

“And the way he lights our team up, the way he goes out there and executes and gets ground balls when he needs to, gets strikeouts when he needs to, it’s fun to watch. I am happy that he is on my team and is my leader.”

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