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BALTIMORE — Seven shutout innings. Only three hits allowed, along with two measly walks.
Almost every pitcher in the big leagues would be delighted with those results. Not Detroit Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal, who wasn’t fully satisfied with his performance in a 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.
“I was kind of fighting myself early, and as the game wore on, I felt like I got better,” Skubal said. “I’m probably more proud of grinding it out than when you’re on early.”
On a hot, humid night at Camden Yards, the 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner looked rather ordinary in the first inning. Baltimore’s leadoff hitter, Jordan Westburg, whacked a drive to right that was caught by leaping Kerry Carpenter at the wall. Two batters later, Gunnar Henderson singled.
Skubal then walked Coby Mayo in the second inning and Ramon Laureano in the seventh. The two free passes were the most he’d allowed since April 2.
“During my next bullpen,” Skubal said with a wry smile, “I’ll go work on my command.”
When you’re almost always sharp and that overpowering, it’s difficult tough to cope when things don’t go perfectly. Skubal (7-2) threw 98 pitches, 74 in the strike zone, but those 24 other pitches caught his attention.
“I just think my misses were kind of bigger than they usually are,” he said.
Tigers Manager AJ Hinch was impressed with the results, but acknowledged that Skubal wasn’t quite as impressive as usual.
“He didn’t quite have the command he normally has,” Hinch said. “That doesn’t mean he had bad command tonight. It just means it was sort of not perfection. If that’s your off day and it’s seven scoreless, that’s pretty good pitching.”
With his sixth scoreless start of the year, Skubal lowered his ERA to 1.99. Yet, he was off his game just enough to draw a good-natured quip from his manager.
“He did walk a couple guys,” Finch noted, “so we’re going to have him work on some things.”
Baltimore’s lone run came on an eighth-inning home run by Dylan Carlson off reliever Tommy Kahnle.
ASTROS 4, WHITE SOX 3 Isaac Paredes hit a home run and Jose Altuve doubled twice and had two RBI to lead Houston over the Chicago White Sox. Houston led 4-2 entering the ninth before Mike Tauchman homered to right field off closer Josh Hader to get Chicago within 4-3. There were two outs when Miguel Vargas narrowly missed a home run on a double off the wall in left field. But Hader struck out Austin Slater to improve to 18 of 18 on save opportunities this season.
RANGERS 16, TWINS 3 Josh Smith, Jake Burger and Wyatt Langford went deep in the first two innings and Texas hit a season-high six home runs in a romp over Minnesota. Evan Carter, Adolis Garcia and Sam Haggerty also homered as Texas scored 16 runs for the second time in three games. The Rangers beat Minnesota 16-4 on Tuesday night. Patrick Corbin (4-5) allowed three runs in five-plus innings for his first victory since May 14, retiring 12 consecutive hitters at one point. He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in his dozen starts this season. Minnesota has lost five of seven.
YANKEES 1, ROYALS 0 Pablo Reyes stumbled, stopped and still scrambled home safely on a wild play in the eighth inning, taking advantage of a throwing error by reliever Lucas Erceg to give the New York Yankees a victory over Kansas City. New York completed a three-game sweep to finish 6-0 against the Royals this season after eliminating them 3-1 in their best-of-five playoff series last October.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BREWERS 6, CARDINALS 0 Jacob Misiorowski pitched five no-hit innings before leaving his major league debut with cramping in his right calf and quadriceps as Milwaukee defeated St. Louis. Misiorowski (1-0) slipped on the front part of the mound after throwing his third pitch of the sixth. After medical staff went to check on him, he was removed in favor of Nick Mears. The 6-7 right-hander finished his dominant debut with five strikeouts and four walks while reaching a maximum velocity of 102.2 mph with his fastball.
CUBS 3, PIRATES 2 Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning, Seiya Suzuki added a shot in the sixth, and the Chicago Cubs held on for a win over Pittsburgh. Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon (7-3) went 6 1/3 innings against his former team, which drafted him No. 2 overall in 2010. He allowed two earned runs on four hits, three of which came in the seventh inning, and struck out seven batters.
ROCKIES 8, GIANTS 7 Orlando Arcia hit a two-run, single with two outs in the ninth inning and Colorado rallied to beat San Francisco to snap a five-game losing streak. With the Rockies trailing 7-5, Sam Hilliard walked with one out in the ninth against Randy Rodriguez (3-1) and Thairo Estrada hit what was ruled a double to left field to put runners on second and third. Ryan McMahon walked to load the bases. Brenton Doyle then hit a potential game-ending double-play grounder that was bobbled by Casey Schmitt, allowing a run to score and keeping the bases loaded. Pinch-hitter Hunter Goodman struck out before Arcia delivered on a 3-2 pitch for the Rockies.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Detroit Tigers outfielder Kerry Carpenter (30) catches a fly ball hit by Baltimore Orioles’ Jordan Westburg off Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal during the first inning of a baseball game in Baltimore, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer (64) is greeted by catcher Adley Rutschman, left, as they walk off the field during the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Baltimore, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)