Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch thought his young star looked uncomfortable as he received praise for another accomplishment.
But Tigers rookie sensation Kevin McGonigle was simply trying to figure out what exactly he had just accomplished.
With his fifth-inning single in the 6-2 win over the Athletics on Tuesday, July 7, McGonigle passed Yankees star slugger Aaron Judge for the most games reaching base safely at least twice as a rookie before the All-Star Break in MLB history.
Though he wasn’t sure what it was at first, McGonigle is cherishing his name’s place on a list one place above the reigning American League MVP.
“My name being up there with Aaron Judge, that is really sick,” McGonigle said .
It was a standard day in the office for the Tigers’ 21-year-old rookie All-Star selection. McGonigle started his day playing shortstop before finishing at third base. At the plate, he drew a grinding eight-pitch walk, setting up a decisive two-run home run from Colt Keith on the next pitch.
McGonigle reached on a fielding error and drove two singles into right-center field. His sixth-inning single drove in a run during a four-run frame against Athletics lefty reliever Jacob Lopez.
“I love when Kevin is uncomfortable because he is not in the batter’s box,” Hinch said. “This guy, he’s remarkable with his plan and his execution.”
Along with McGonigle, Detroit’s usual suspects led the charge on Tuesday. Left-hander Tarik Skubal, the two-time defending AL Cy Young winner, came out with his hair on fire.
He struck out the first three A’s batters he faced on his way to five scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. Though his pitch count ran high early, Skubal overwhelmed Athletics hitters and stranded all runners.
“Sometimes you have to look optimistically,” Skubal said. “Even when I am spraying it, it is still tough to score. I did my part, put our team in a position to win and the bullpen picked me up big time.”
Skubal has now made five starts since returning from the elbow injury that caused him to miss five weeks. In his last two starts, he has thrown 11 innings, striking out 18 batters with two runs allowed.
“The bar is really high and he can handle it,” Hinch said of Skubal. “The stuff has been good. He’s gotten burned a little bit by some pitches but he’s going to get into work mode. He is never satisfied.”
With their three All-Star selections and surging starting pitching leading the way, the Tigers are picking up confidence and feeling as if they have turned a corner.
They dug themselves a gargantuan hole with a dismal May, going 7-23 over a 30-game stretch early in the year. But they have now won six of the last seven games, pushing the team’s record to 19-12 since June 1. Still, the record sits at 41-50.
The stretch since the beginning of June has been marked by great complementary baseball. Detroit entered Tuesday with the top team ERA (3.21) and second-best team OPS (.779) since June 1. It was more of the same against the A’s, with dominant pitching and two explosive offensive innings.
“We are a very good baseball team,” Skubal said. “We do all the things right. We prepare really well. And we just kind of got some bad luck and beat ourselves a little bit early in the season. It doesn’t seem like we are doing that anymore.”
As the Tigers keep chipping away at that hole, the internal vision of what was expected to be a good baseball team has started to crystallize for those making the push.
“I trust our team to come out and keep it all in perspective and continue to play good baseball to win games and see where that takes us,” Hinch said.
Contact Jared Ramsey at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers takeaways: Stars are delivering and confidence is growing
Reporting by Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
