This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal, an early American League Cy Young Award candidate, will make his last start prior to the All-Star break when he faces the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Skubal (10-3, 2.37 ERA) had his most dominant performance to date at Cincinnati on Sunday. He overwhelmed the Reds in a seven-inning, 93-pitch gem while racking up a career-high 13 strikeouts. Skubal only allowed one run and three hits and didn’t issue a walk.
Skubal joined Mickey Lolich as the only players in franchise history with an outing of 13 strikeouts, no walks and a maximum of one run allowed.
Going deep into the game was more satisfying than the strikeouts for Skubal. It was the fourth time this season he reached the seven-inning mark.
“The goal for me was to eat as many innings as I could, and it ended up being seven,” he said. “That’s where the focus was at. The strikeouts happen, and that’s a cool thing, but I’m more proud of the seven.”
It’s also difficult to keep the pitch count under 100 when striking out that many batters.
“Getting first-pitch strikes is one thing that he does extraordinarily well,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “And he gets to two strikes as fast as anybody. That helps keep pitch counts down.”
Skubal ranks among the top 10 in the majors in many statistical categories, including his .090 WHIP, which ties him for the big-league lead with the Seattle Mariners’ Logan Gilbert among qualified pitchers.
He will be facing the Dodgers for the first time in his career during the opener of the three-game series.
The Dodgers will counter with veteran left-hander James Paxton (7-2, 4.24 ERA), who, unlike Skubal, pitches to contact. Paxton gave up two runs and four hits in five innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday in his latest start.
He bounced back from his worst outing of the season, when he surrendered nine runs and 12 hits in four innings against the San Francisco Giants on June 30.
“Paxton was fine,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the outing vs. Milwaukee. “I thought he mixed better. I thought the command was better.”
Paxton struck out 208 batters in 2018 with Seattle. Injuries over the years have sapped his velocity.
“I just don’t have quite the stuff that I used to have,” Paxton said. “I used to be able to get to 98 (mph). Don’t really have that in the tank right now. The cutter hasn’t been there, that was a big strikeout pitch for me. Haven’t been able to find that pitch, so just pitching differently.”
Paxton is 3-1 with a 3.13 ERA in seven career starts against the Tigers, who enter the series on a hot streak, having won six of their past seven games. Detroit defeated Cleveland 10-1 on Thursday to take three of four in the series.
“What it tells me is what we’ve known all along,” Hinch said. “We’ve got a lot of resolve. We’re going to play the whole game and we’re going to play the schedule. Our guys love to compete.”
The Dodgers will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak. They lost to Philadelphia 5-1 on Thursday to finish a three-game sweep. Los Angeles still holds a seven-game lead over the second-place San Diego Padres in the National League West.
–Field Level Media
