Detroit — Tarik Skubal, after completely draining his sizable tank in six gritty, scoreless innings, with the birth of his second child imminent, tried to shine a light on the other side of this mess the Tigers find themselves in right now.
“When a team is going through adversity, you get to see what it’s made of,” said the reigning American League Cy Young winner after the Tigers lost for the 12th time in 13 games, 6-1, to the Toronto Blue Jays Saturday. “You get to see who you are going back-to-back with on the field. Obviously, we’re going through it right now.
“But it’s going to make us a better team, a tougher team and a tough out coming down the stretch and that’s exciting. In failure there is a ton to learn from and a ton of success to have on the other side of it.”
In the meantime, they await a spark. Something, anything, especially to jolt the offense.
“I wish I knew,” said catcher Jake Rogers, who had the Tigers’ only two hits. “If I knew I’d tell every guy in here. We’re in a tough spot right now. We’re hoping for one click to push us over the edge and get us going again.”
A sellout crowd of 40,528 brought plenty of energy to Comerica Park. As did Skubal, who was electrifying in his six innings. There were bold and clutch defensive plays, too.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM TIGERS’ 6-1 LOSS TO BLUE JAYS
And yet the bats continue to slumber.
And the Tigers continue to lose baseball games.
A two-run single by Bo Bichette off reliever Will Vest in the eighth inning broke a scoreless tie.
Davis Schneider and George Springer greeted Vest with first-pitch singles to start the eighth. They each moved up a base on a wild pitch and scored on Bichette’s opposite-field poke through a drawn-in infield.
“That’s an emotional swing but it’s not something we can’t overcome,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “This isn’t a team that’s had trouble overcoming things. But it’s been brutal and I think our guys are feeling it. Not necessarily in that moment, but like right now. They’re beat up and we should be. We’ve had a brutal stretch here. But it can change tomorrow.”
Besides losing 12 of 13, the Tigers have also lost six straight overall and seven straight at home, the longest home losing streak since 2019. Since the All-Star break, the Tigers are 1-8 and have been outscored 47-16. Their lead in the Central Division is down to 7.5 games, pending the outcome of the Cleveland-Kansas City game Saturday.
The margin of error in games has become microscopic. Two singles by the No. 9 hitter isn’t going to get it done. Not a single runner got into scoring position until the ninth when Rogers advanced to third on a pair of defensive indifferences and scored on a ground out by Riley Greene.
“We have to be better,” Rogers said. “Whether that’s getting back to grinding out at-bats, getting our walks when we can or what. I don’t know if we’re being too aggressive or not aggressive enough. We’re in limbo right now.”
For the first six innings, right-hander Kevin Gausman locked them down. He struck out 10, bedeviling hitters with four-seam fastballs and darting splitters. He got 13 whiffs at 18 swings with the splitter.
“He’s got a little bit of extension on his heater and he can (bring) it up there,” Rogers said. “And that splitter looks like an absolute heater middle-middle coming out. It looks juicy to hit and then it falls below the zone. He’s been good for a long time.”
Rogers caught every one of Skubal’s starts last season but hadn’t caught him this year since April 2.
“Jake was probably wondering if I was feeling OK,” Hinch joked before the game.
Hinch might’ve just been trying to shake things up, looking maybe for some of that 2024 magic. But the move paid early dividends.
The two singles were a bonus. More significantly, Rogers helped Skubal get out of serious trouble in the fourth and sixth innings.
“I thought after those two defensive plays that we made, like it was our night,” Hinch said. “We escaped any trouble Tarik was in. But it wasn’t to be.”
With one out in the fourth, Guerrero singled and went to third on a double by Bichette. Catcher Tyler Heineman, who was pinch-hitting for Alejandro Kirk, squared to bunt but didn’t offer.
Guerrero, anticipating the safety squeeze, came down the line and Rogers alertly fired a strike to Zach McKinstry at third, nabbing Guerrero. The throw was doubly impressive because Rogers had to throw it around the right-handed hitting Heineman.
“The pitch before, we were looking to see if Vlady was off,” Rogers said. “I made eye contact with Z-Mac. Z-mac and I had it in our heads that we wanted to back-pick and he happened to be in the right place and screaming at me and it all worked out.”
Rogers came up big again in the sixth.
The Blue Jays again put together a string of long at-bats. The longest was a 13-pitch battle by Bichette that ended with the second walk of the inning, loading the bases with one out.
“When stuff goes like that, I don’t think he has much of an idea of what the approach is and I don’t really know what to do, either,” Skubal said. “I threw everything at him. He’s really a good player. He’s been a great player for a long time.”
The 13th pitch was a knuckle-curve, the only pitch Bichette hadn’t seen in the at-bat.
“Just try something else,” Rogers said. “That was something he wasn’t expecting. Just missed.”
Skubal needed 61 pitches to get through the first five innings. It took him 35 to secure three outs in the sixth. And he did so with a little help from his friends.
With the bases loaded after the Bichette walk, Heineman blooped a ball to shallow center field that Matt Vierling picked up on one hop. Springer, the runner at third, didn’t read the ball well and stayed to tag at third. Vierling came up throwing to the plate.
Rogers, who deked Springer by standing still in front of the plate, caught the ball and made a one-motion sweep tag on the leg of Springer, who did not slide on the play.
“Honestly, I just thought he’d be in there easy,” Rogers said. “So naturally my body took me away from the plate. I was just in front of home plate. I saw the ball coming and I saw him out of the corner of my eye. So I tried to be as stoic as possible and it worked.”
Skubal then finished his outing, striking out Addison Barger. His last two pitches were 100 mph heaters. And on the last (officially 100.6 mph) he let out his patented scream, which sent the park into a frenzy.
“Vintage Tarik Skubal,” Hinch said. “He came in with intensity, pounding the zone with all of his pitches. For him to hang in there after the Bichette at-bat, collect himself after the letdown of the walk, I mean, Tarik is incredible.”
BOX SCORE: Blue Jays 6, Tigers 1
Skubal, who lowered his ERA to 2.09, struck out seven and walked three in his six scoreless innings. He threw five pitches 100 mph or harder in the sixth.
“That (Bichette) at-bat ran me out of gas a little bit,” Skubal said. “To be able to make pitches there and get out with a zero was huge, just for the team to get a little momentum.”
Skubal was asked about the challenge of locking in with all that’s going on at home with the pending birth.
“That’s my personal life,” he said. “My job today was to go out there and compete and do my best to separate those things. My job was to compete and put our team in a position to win. That’s what I was trying to do.”
The Blue Jays blew the game open against Chase Lee in the ninth with three home runs — a pinch-hit two-run homer by Nathan Lukes and solo homers by Springer (three hits) and Guerrero.
“I get to see all the work that goes on behind the scenes,” Skubal said. “It’s not because of a lack of effort, or a lack of trying. Our team really cares each and every day. The one thing I can trust always is our preparation. It’s just not going our way right now. I know people don’t want to hear this but it’s part of the game.
“We’re going to be better for it. When the tides turn, we’re going to be better for it.”
@cmccosky