Tarik Skubal will try again in five days, when he’ll be a little less nervous, a little sharper and -- after throwing two innings Tuesday night against a hot-hitting Chicago White Sox lineup -- he’ll have at least a little big-league experience under his belt.
What can be said about his Major League debut on Tuesday? It’s in the books, it wasn’t a total disaster and maybe there will be something he can take from it for next time.
“I think he’ll learn something from every start,” said Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire. “It was a great experience for him.”
Skubal allowed four runs on seven hits in two innings of work. He was on a fairly strict pitch limit, so he was done after throwing his 52nd pitch to strike out Eloy Jimenez and end the second inning.
He’s the first takeaway from Tuesday’s game, the Tigers’ seventh consecutive loss.
1. Skubal summary.
Tim Anderson has feasted on Tigers’ pitching this year and has now led off three games against the Tigers with home runs. Skubal got to join the club on his third pitch when Anderson hit a bomb 422 feet to left-center.
After back-to-back singles, things were starting to get hairy.
Yes, things could have gone much better on Tuesday, but there were also points in the first inning in which things could have gone much, much worse. This was one of them.
Tigers pitching coach Rick Anderson came out for a mound visit to calm him down. The strategy was obvious: Get Eloy Jimenez to bounce into a double play.
“That was the goal that at-bat,” Skubal said.
It worked. Jimenez grounded into a 6-4-3 twin killing to give Skubal two huge outs.
But the drama wasn’t over yet. He issued a walk to Edwin Encarnacion and then James McCann launched a towering shot to right-center. JaCoby Jones caught it a step in front of the wall. Inning over.
Skubal coughed up three more runs in the second on three singles, a double and a sacrifice fly.
“They didn’t kill him by any means, but they got after him,” Gardenhire said.
By the time he recorded his first Major League strikeout to end the second, it was clear there wouldn’t be a third.
Skubal mainly threw a fastball that averaged 95 mph and topped out at 97, but he mixed in plenty of sliders, changes and curves. Of the 11 balls the White Sox put in play, five were hit hard.
Skubal said he learned about himself in the start.
“You learn how you compete and how the adrenaline flows a little differently,” he said.
His next start in Cleveland on Sunday won’t be a “picnic,” as Gardenhire said, but it will be another chance for a step forward.
“He’s got a good head on his shoulders,” said catcher Austin Romine. “He knows what he wants to do. He knows how he wants to attack. I saw some good stuff there. We’re excited for the next one with him.”
2. Norris keeps pitching well.
It wasn’t ideal to follow a left-hander (Skubal) with another left-hander (Daniel Norris) against a lineup stocked with righties. But the Tigers weren’t in a position to be picky Tuesday night.
Norris delivered under difficult circumstances, pitching four strong innings of relief, including 1-2-3 frames in the third, fifth and sixth. Two runs scored in the fourth on a single, walk and two-run double by Jose Abreu.
After a shaky debut appearance on Aug. 2, Norris has thrown three quality relief outings, striking out seven batters and walking just one in 7 2/3 innings. Throwing mainly a fastball and change, he got nine swings-and-misses Tuesday night.
Romine said it was one of the best outings of any Detroit pitcher over the last couple of days.
“Norris was really good,” Gardenhire said. “Good fastball, good change-up. He had it really going on.”
3. How’s Harold?
Super-utility man Harold Castro pulled up limping after running out a ground ball in the fifth inning on Tuesday. Gardenhire said he has a strained hamstring and would undergo an MRI.
If he has to go on the injured list, the Tigers have a dwindling amount of healthy position players on the 40-man roster who can be summoned from Toledo.
Infielder Sergio Alcantara and outfielders Travis Demeritte and Derek Hill are the only ones that remain.
Alcantara is unlikely because the Tigers already have Willi Castro to serve as a utility infielder and it will be challenging enough to get him at-bats as it is.
The Tigers would probably opt for Demeritte, but Hill deserves consideration, too.
With four outfielders already on the roster -- Christin Stewart, JaCoby Jones, Victor Reyes and Cameron Maybin -- competing for three spots, at-bats wouldn’t be plentiful for either player.
Both Demeritte and Hill are really fast. Demeritte made two big defensive plays during his first stint with the Tigers; Hill is generally considered the best defensive outfielder in the Tigers’ system.
4. Things have gotten really bad.
When the Tigers were 9-5, it was clear they were playing above their heads a bit. No one was in denial about that. But things have come crashing back to reality more swiftly than expected.
With seven losses in a row, the Tigers are now three games under .500, yet still only two games out of the last American League playoff spot (currently held by the Baltimore Orioles, who were almost as bad as the Tigers in 2019).
The starting pitching has been awful, but the lineup hasn’t carried its weight, either. The number of regulars who are currently providing better-than-league-average offensive production has dwindled to just three: Austin Romine, Jonathan Schoop and JaCoby Jones. (In fairness, players like Niko Goodrum, Jeimer Candelario and Victor Reyes are not far behind).
Although the Tigers have already played 35 percent of their schedule, it’s helpful to remember that if this were a normal season, it would still be April and we’d be dodging late-spring snowstorms and waiting for the arrival of summer.
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