Tarik Skubals potential final game with Tigers ends in utter disaster before trade deadline
What could be Tarik Skubal’s last game as a Tiger ended in catastrophe.After the two-time Cy Young Award winner guided Detroit to a 7-0 lead heading into the seventh inning against the Orioles, the Tigers allowed 10 runs in the next five innings to lose 10-9 in 12 innings at Comerica Park on Wednesday.The comeback was the largest for Baltimore since they erased a nine-run deficit in an 11-10 win over the Red Sox in 2009 and the first time the Orioles won after they trailed 7-0 since a 9-7 victory at Toronto in 1995.“Obviously, this was a tough one,” Skubal said.“We were up 7-0 and end up losing.
… I don’t even know what the final score was, but this one hurts.”Despite the loss, Skubal showed why he’s such a hot commodity in the trade market right now.The left-handed pitcher exited the game up 7-1, recording six strikeouts and allowing just five hits in 6 2/3 innings.He owns a 2.79 ERA this season.He also reached his 1,000th career strikeout during the game, becoming the fastest left-handed pitcher to do so since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.“For some reason, strikeout marks hit differently for me,” Skubal said after the game.
“Reaching 200 strikeouts for the first time was a huge milestone for me, and as I was getting close to 1,000, it just felt really cool.”For potentially the last time as a Tiger, Detroit fans gave their ace a standing ovation for the milestone.Though Skubal said the ovation was “special’ and he is trying to “live in the moment,” yet another loss only raises the odds he’s moved before the Aug.3 trade deadline.After the Orioles series, the Tigers sit 51-58, second to last in the AL Central, and are four games off the final wild-card spot.Skubal is 4-3 with a 2.86 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 53 1⁄3 innings since returning from an experimental elbow surgery, piquing the interest of teams such as the Brewers and Dodgers.The deadline is Detroit’s last chance to get a return from Skubal.
His record-setting one-year,...