The Detroit Tigers possess a built-in mechanism for their recent troubles — a Tarik Skubal start.
Skubal can’t cure all of the team’s troubles, but he can sure make everyone in the organization breathes easier every fifth game. Skubal will start the series opener against the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Detroit’s ace has posted quality starts in five of his last six outings and the Tigers have a 16-6 record in his 22 starts this season.
Their overall record since the final weekend before the All-Star break is concerning. They’ve gone 7-16 during that stretch and their once imposing 14-game lead in the American League Central has shrunk to six games over second-place Cleveland.
Concerns grew this week after they lost two of three at home to the tanking Minnesota Twins, who conducted a fire sale prior to the trade deadline.
“We didn’t do enough to win this game or win this series,” manager A.J. Hinch said after his team’s 9-4 loss on Wednesday. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot of things to address. Right now we’re taking it on the chin.”
Perhaps it’s complacency after building such a comfortable lead. Perhaps it’s just an inevitable correction after so much went smoothly during the first half of the season. Perhaps it’s due to relatively modest acquisitions made by the front office compared to other contenders.
Hinch isn’t looking for excuses.
“We better just worry about ourselves,” Hinch said. “That’s something this group has been pretty good at. We haven’t had one talk about anything external. I don’t care if you have a one-game lead or a 20-game lead, if we don’t play good baseball, I’m going to sit up here and say we’ve got to do better. I’ve been very consistent that you’ve got to play your 162 (games) and we haven’t yet. We are going to get tested. So we need to play better.”
Skubal (11-3, 2.18 ERA) has done his part to keep things afloat. After giving up one run in 12 2/3 innings in his previous two starts, Skubal pitched six scoreless innings at Philadelphia on Saturday. The Phillies scored three runs off him in the seventh but Detroit held on for a 7-5 win.
He’s 1-1 with a 1.83 ERA in three career outings against the Angels, who have lost five of their last seven games.
Veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks (6-8, 4.59 ERA) will start for Los Angeles. Pitching to contact, Hendricks has given up just one run in each of his last two starts.
He limited Seattle to two hits in six innings on July 27, then came out after five innings against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.
Hendricks is 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA in four career starts against Detroit.
Mike Trout can reach a career milestone as early as Friday. He’s two homers shy of 400 after a three-run blast in a 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
“I’ve definitely been thinking about it,” Trout said. “But the biggest thing for me is if I can trust the work in the cage and translate (that work to) the game. And then 400 will come.”
–Field Level Media
