Athletics at Detroit Tigers

The nitpicking from Tarik Skubal sounded almost accountant-like. “I counted about 20 noncompetitive pitches today,” he lamented after striking out nine Athletics over 96 pitches and five innings of one-run ball Tuesday night. “And that’s a high percentage of my outing there. Part of it is a good lineup. Another part of it is I sprayed the ball a little bit, especially with fastballs and some changeups, too. I don’t think it was my best showing by any means.” The crowd at Comerica Park didn’t seem to mind. If anything, the announced gathering of 28,736 seemed louder than usual. They roared when Skubal took the mound, and again when he struck out the side in order in the opening inning. They gave him an ovation coming off the mound when a Jonah Heim groundout ended the fifth inning. Maybe it was appreciation for what they were watching, and the uncertainty of what follows. Nobody knows how many more starts Skubal will get as a Tiger, with the Trade Deadline just four weeks away and the club fighting to claw back into postseason contention. Tuesday’s 6-2 victory was another step in the right direction, Detroit’s sixth win in its past seven games. Even with Skubal’s self-critique, the Tigers are playing some of their best ball when they absolutely have to. They had a similar stretch a couple weeks ago and missed an opportunity to build on it. Tuesday’s win against an A’s squad that played them well last season but has struggled of late was a reversal of that. And the reigning American League Cy Young Award-winner put on a show to set the tone. Skubal allowed five home runs over two starts in the Tigers’ previous homestand before regrouping to dominate last week at Yankee Stadium. He liked the way he’d been pitching; he just didn’t like the results. The way he came out Tuesday felt like a statement.