Sacramento, Calif. – Tarik Skubal’s early years were spent a couple hours away from here, close enough that he needed to commandeer most of the family passes for his start Monday against the Athletics at their temporary home, Sutter Health Park.
The way things ended though, he might not be too keen to come back any time soon.
On a night when he struck out 12 and was in complete control of the game for six innings, Skubal was tagged for two home runs in the seventh, including a two-out, grand slam by Shea Langeliers that sent the Athletics to an 8-3 win over the Tigers.
“I felt good,” Skubal said. “I thought the stuff coming out of my hand was pretty good. But it doesn’t really matter what I think. We lost. The goal is to win on the days I pitch and we lost.
“But the stuff coming out of my hand was as good as I can throw.”
The Tigers led 3-1 going into the inning. Colby Thomas homered to start it off. Darrell Hernaiz hit a ground ball up the middle that second baseman Gleyber Torres picked with a backhand but his throw skipped and Spencer Torkelson couldn’t make the scoop.
Tyler Soderstrom followed with a double and then an error by Zach McKinstry (his second in the game) on another infield grounder loaded the bases with no outs.
“A lot of that stuff is out of my control,” Skubal said. “What is in my control is me trying to execute every pitch that I throw. Stuff happens on the field that I don’t have much say in.”
Skubal added, too, that the defense has picked him up plenty this season.
“I need to pick them up, too, sometimes, and I didn’t tonight,” he said.
Skubal, approaching 90 pitches, struck out Zack Gelof and JJ Bleday and it looked like he was going to get out of the inning with lead.
But he left a 98.5-mph sinker in the heart of the plate to Langeliers. The ball left his bat at 110.5 mph and flew 450 feet to left-center, clearing the clubhouses that are located behind the wall.
“Even on that last pitch, I was 100 percent bought in on it,” he said. “It leaked over the middle. That’s part of the game.”
Catcher Dillon Dingler, afterward, was second-guessing his pitch call.
“We wanted sinker up and in,” he said. “We had some different options there but I thought that was the best one. Obviously, hindsight is 20-20. You try not to beat yourself up about it. … But that’s one I’d like to have back.”
Pretty stunning turn of events.
“They put some good swings on some good pitches,” manager AJ Hinch said. “We gave them an extra out and they came up with some enormous swings, whether it was to start that inning or finish Tarik’s outing.
“And he hit it out of the park. I think that’s the jolt that got all of us. Credit to them for putting good swings on pitches but, rough inning.”
It’s the first time the Tigers lost back-to-back games since Aug. 5-6 but they retain their 10.5-game lead in the Central Division. The three runs all came in one clump in the sixth inning. Torres hit his 14th homer and Wenceel Perez drove a two-run double into the left-center gap.
It seemed like a cozy lead at the time.
“We’ve seen a lot of these outings from Tarik where he puts us on his back,” Hinch said. “But they beat him tonight.”
Skubal had seven strikeouts in the first three innings and finished with his 10th double-digit outing of the season, passing Hall Newhauser for second most in club history.
He earned his 10th strikeout with his 75th pitch, a 100-mph four-seam fastball that froze Brent Rooker to end the sixth inning.
He brought the emotional fire, too.
In the third inning, he and home plate umpire Dan Bellino disagreed on a pitch to No. 9 hitter Bleday. The K-zone box showed the pitch was in the zone but it was called a ball.
Skubal stared at Bellino for several seconds, long enough to irritate him. After Bleday flew out, Bellino went aggressively out to the mound and had words with Skubal.
Hinch quickly got out to the mound to diffuse the situation. Bellino then was having words with Hinch as he walked back to the dugout. Hinch didn’t take the bait. He just pointed to his dugout, as if to say, I’m just coaching my team.
“There is no need for him to lecture Tarik,” Hinch said. “I know he was frustrated with Tarik’s emotion on a pitch that turned out to be a strike. And I was frustrated that he went out and tried to talk to Tarik. I had to go out to make sure Tarik stayed in the game.
“But I also let Dan know that I’ll handle our players and he can handle the balls and strikes.”
Also during that inning, Langeliers hit a long, foul fly ball. The stadium operator got a little excited and fired up the home run light show.
Skubal, after he struck out Langeliers with a 99.7-mph heater, made a circular motion with his finger, as if to say, run the light show now.
“I probably should be a little bit better,” Skubal said of his exchange with Bellino. “They’re human. It’s part of the game. Missing pitches is part of the game. I shouldn’t say anything. It doesn’t do our team any good.
“It’s tough when you are out there competing. I play with a pretty good amount of emotion and fire. I know he’s not trying to miss calls. They want to get them right. I probably need to be a little bit better about that.”
@cmccosky
Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.