DETROIT — Tarik Skubal walked off the Comerica Park mound Friday night to a standing ovation from 40,638 fans who understand arithmetic. The Aug. 3 trade deadline is nine days away. Skubal is a two-time defending AL Cy Young winner barreling toward free agency. The Detroit Tigers sit 50-54, four wins from .500, and the baseball world can’t stop whispering about whether their ace has thrown his last pitch in this uniform.
If he has, he went out throwing 68 strikes out of 91.
Skubal struck out a season-high 12 Kansas City Royals over 7⅓ innings of one-run ball, and the Tigers held on for a 2-1 win. He punched out the first two batters he faced, sat on nine strikeouts through five, and generated 25 whiffs on 54 swings — 10 of those coming on 14 hacks at his changeup alone. Five of his strikeouts were three-pitch variety. He threw 24 first-pitch strikes to the 28 men who stepped in against him.
That’s not nibbling. That’s pounding the zone until the other side taps out.
The Royals didn’t scratch across their lone run until the fourth, when Salvador Perez doubled into the right-center gap and Nick Loftin followed with a two-out RBI double of his own. By then Skubal had already set a franchise record — 20 consecutive scoreless innings against Kansas City, passing Milt Wilcox. The streak ended on back-to-back doubles. The film doesn’t lie, and sometimes the film shows a couple of well-placed baseballs.
Detroit’s offense did all its damage in the first inning and then went quiet. Royals opener Beck Way allowed singles to Colt Keith and Gleyber Torres before plunking Dillon Dingler to load the bases. Riley Greene launched a ball toward the left-field bullpen that should have been a grand slam — except Isaac Collins, all 5-foot-8 of him, timed a leap at the wall and pulled it back. Sac fly. One run. Hao-Yu Lee followed with a sharp RBI single to center, and that was the ballgame.
Noah Cameron kept the Tigers scoreless from the second through the eighth, striking out eight and allowing two hits across seven innings. Way took the loss.
Skubal’s night nearly ended after the seventh, when he stranded runners at second and third by getting Tyler Tolbert to fly out on his 89th pitch. Manager A.J. Hinch gave him a fist bump, not the hook. Skubal came back out for the eighth, retired Carter Jensen on a fly ball, and “Skooooob” chants filled the park as Hinch walked to the mound. This time there was no handshake — just a hug in the dugout.
Brenan Hanifee recorded two ground-ball outs to finish the eighth. Kenley Jansen worked the ninth, retiring Jac Caglianone on a fly ball, striking out Vinnie Pasquantino, and getting Nick Loftin to end it for his 12th save.
The Tigers have gone 28-16 since June 1. They are neither clear buyers nor clear sellers, which is the worst kind of limbo for a fan base watching its best pitcher dominate in what might be a farewell tour. Barring a rotation shuffle, Skubal’s next start would come Wednesday against the Orioles — again at Comerica Park, again before the deadline.
The 125th anniversary celebration weekend featured members of the 2006 AL Championship pitching staff throwing ceremonial first pitches. Skubal, who returned this summer from surgery to remove a loose body from his left elbow, gave them something to remember alongside it.
Twelve strikeouts. One run. Ninety-one pitches. If this was the last one, it was a hell of a last one.
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