Chicago — It won’t be all clean, it won’t be all plain sailing. Tarik Skubal never claimed to be perfect. What matters most to him is that they end up victorious.
And the Detroit Tigers stuck to that plan on Saturday, beating the Chicago White Sox 13-4 for the second consecutive year at Guaranteed Rate Field. While the Tigers are back to .500 (64-66), the White Sox are on the verge of triple-digit losses (31-99).
“I’ve said it all year, it doesn’t matter how I feel if we win,” Skubal said. “Who cares. We won. That’s the goal of the game, to win every day.”
For Skubal, it was his 15th Major League win, the most ever, making him the first Tigers pitcher to reach that level since Justin Verlander in 2016.
“I don’t know if 15 wins is what I’m focused on,” he said. “I’m more focused on putting my team in a position to win a game every time I step on the mound. That’s something I take a lot of pride in. And if that’s reflected in the 15 wins, then that’s something I’m proud of.”
“But I like winning the games I play more than the winning statistics themselves.”
The Tigers have an 18-8 record in his 26 starts, but this probably won’t go down in the time capsule of his likely Cy Young season.
“From Tarik’s perspective, he wasn’t as sharp and it didn’t look like he could throw the ball where he wanted to like he normally does,” said manager AJ Hinch, who took him out of the game after five innings and 88 pitches. “He got a handle on the ball again and got through to the end of his inning and got through five.”
It was a muggy night on the south side, but the humidity and sweat were no problem for Skubal. The balls weren’t as worn down as he liked, as evidenced by the fact that he kept throwing balls away and asking for new ones.
“I had to laugh,” said catcher Jake Rogers. “Every time I threw back a ball, I just held my hand up (for the umpire) and waited for him to throw another ball out.”
Skubal simply had trouble gripping the chalky balls. It affected his velocity, which dropped 1.3 mph on his four-seam and two-seam fastballs. It affected his control.
“I’ve pitched in hotter games and wetter games,” he said. “I don’t know what was going on with the balls today. I wasn’t a fan. I’ve never thrown out that many balls. But I don’t want that to be a story or sound like an excuse or anything.”
“It is what it is. It happens. You have to learn to deal with some things and cope with them because it won’t be the last time something like this happens.”
Skubal had allowed just three hits in his previous three starts. In this game, he allowed five hits in the third inning alone. And that was after striking out the team in the second inning and sitting 18 minutes while the Tigers scored four times in the third.
He fell behind the first two batters in the third inning – No. 8 batter Dominic Fletcher (double) and No. 9 batter Brooks Baldwin (single).
Corey Julks and Luis Robert, Jr. followed with RBI singles and with one out, Andrew Vaughn hit an RBI single.
It was a strange sight to see the White Sox batting A-swings, especially against Skubal’s classics – the fastball and the change-up. But he finished the third inning with two pitches and struck out eight of the last nine batters he faced.
“Eight hits (allowed in total) and seven of them were singles,” Skubal shrugged. “I think maybe one was hard and the others found gaps. That’s the game of baseball. You have to understand that. You can let the three runs and five hits dictate the next inning or you can throw it away and get back to zeroes.”
The three runs in five innings pushed his ERA up to 2.58, still the best in the American League, and he also had eight strikeouts.
However, the offensive was on his side.
“The offense did a great job of helping me,” Skubal said. “It was 5-3 (after the third) and they answered with four more runs to put the game away for me. First, it gave me a breather. And second, it gave me confidence that it was going to take a lot to beat us today.”
The Tigers scored nine runs in the first four innings for the fourth time this season, which is the most in the American League, doing the damage against left-hander Ky Bush and veteran right-hander Touki Toussaint.
Against Bush, who had to fight more against left-handers than right-handers in his short time in the major leagues (three starts before Saturday), Hinch had four left-handers start.
In the end, they managed 4 of 10 in Bush’s three innings. But it was two right-handers who did the major damage.
Matt Vierling, who is 6 for 15 during this extended trip to Chicago, doubled and scored in the first inning, hitting his 15thth Home run of the season in the third and walk and score in the fourth.
Catalyst.
“He fought for pitches in the first two at-bats,” Hinch said. “He’s very disciplined. He has a plan and when he goes up there and executes it like that, he’s so solid for our whole team. He’s one of the few guys here who’s played in a World Series and the guys rely on him when they need leadership. He’s such a solid influence.”
“I love Matt Vierling and I love what he brings to the team. He’s a winning player.”
Rogers also had a productive night. He hadn’t had a hit since his seven-RBI game against the Mariners on Aug. 13. But he ended his 0-for-18 streak with an RBI double and a two-out, two-run single against Bush. He later added a double in the ninth inning.
“I’m just trying to stay more relaxed and tone it down a little bit,” Rogers said. “The hitting coaches and I noticed that I did a leg kick a couple weeks ago and when I did that, my body cracked a little bit and I had to get out of there before I could make my swing.”
“I just started doing smaller leg kicks and calming down my upper body. It felt good in the cage and I took it into the match. It paid off.”
Left-hander Riley Greene also contributed a double, an RBI and three runs. Parker Meadows had two hits.
The Tigers capped the night with a 4-run 9th inning against reliever John Brebbia. Rookie Colt Keith (his 12th) and Zach McKinstry (4th) hit 2-run home runs.
The Tigers will use Beau Brieske in Sunday’s opening game.
@cmccosky
