Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal wins $32 million in arbitration hearing
On “Days of Roar,” former MLB executive Mike Smith explains why Tarik Skubal won his arbitration case vs. the Detroit Tigers, securing $32 million.
Tarik Skubal unleashed his emotions.
The small-ball Milwaukee Brewers opened the sixth inning with back-to-back bunt singles, only for Skubal to respond by stranding runners on the corners with an inning-ending double play.
Skubal screamed in celebration.
There wasn’t anything to celebrate in the seventh inning, as Skubal failed to record an out while allowing three of his four runs, but Jahmai Jones picked him up with a pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning.
The Detroit Tigers battled back from Skubal’s misfortune for a 5-4 win over the Brewers on Thursday, April 23, in the finale of the three-game series at Comerica Park. To end the game, Spencer Torkelson hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.
The Tigers (14-12) took two of three games from the Brewers (13-11) in the series. Next up, the Tigers hit the road for a six-game road trip, beginning Friday (6:40 p.m., Detroit SportsNet) against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Tigers have won 10 of their past 13.
In Thursday’s game, the biggest decision came in the eighth inning, when Jones pinch-hit for Colt Keith in a favorable matchup against left-handed reliever Angel Zerpa.
Jones battled for seven pitches.
The grind paid off when Jones hit Zerpa’s middle-middle 95.9 mph sinker for a massive solo home run to left field. He destroyed the ball with a 111.7 mph exit velocity to tie the game, 4-4.
In the top of the ninth, left-handed reliever Brant Hurter cleaned up the mess created by right-handed reliever Burch Smith by inducing an inning-ending double play. In the bottom of the ninth, Torkelson launched a walk-off homer off right-handed reliever Abner Uribe’s elevated 99.2 mph sinker.
McGonigle, Greene start off hot
Before the late-game action, Kevin McGonigle – hitting .319 with a .907 OPS across 25 games – extended his hitting streak to eight games with a leadoff double in the first inning.
It didn’t take long for him to score.
With two outs, Riley Greene swung at right-hander Brandon Sproat’s first-pitch curveball below the strike zone for a two-run home run, taking a 2-0 lead. Greene drove the breaking ball the opposite way, hitting it 406 feet to left-center field with a 107.7 mph exit velocity.
He has two homers in 26 games.
Skubal locked in
From there, Skubal filled up the strike zone and carried the Tigers until he fell apart. He allowed four runs on seven hits and zero walks with five strikeouts across six-plus innings, registering a season-best 75.5% strike rate on his 94 pitches.
He retired the first 11 batters, then the Brewers collected their first hit with two outs in the fourth inning.
The Brewers trimmed the Tigers’ lead to 2-1 in the fourth inning with back-to-back two-out doubles from William Contreras (seventh-pitch inside sinker) and Gary Sánchez (fourth-pitch elevated fastball).
The Tigers, though, extended their lead to 3-1 in the sixth inning, when Dillon Dingler grounded into a force out that drove in a run after Colt Keith walked and Greene singled.
Suddenly, the Brewers flipped the momentum against Skubal in the seventh inning.
It started with three hits in a row: Sánchez (single), Luis Matos (single) and Blake Perkins (two-RBI double). Perkins fell behind 0-2 in the count, but he battled for seven pitches before smacking a 97.1 mph fastball into left field for two runs.
The Brewers averaged an 82.9 exit velocity on 19 balls in play against Skubal, with only one ball in play over 100 mph.
Weak contact was enough to chase Skubal.
Skubal departed after those three hits, only for left-handed reliever Tyler Holton to surrender two more hits, including an RBI single to David Hamilton that made it a 4-3 lead for the Brewers.
All three runs in the seventh were charged to Skubal.
The reigning two-time American League Cy Young winner has a 2.72 ERA across 36⅓ innings in six starts.
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