COMSTOCK PARK – It was a perfect day for the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, June 7 – on both sides of the state.
And it was all tied together.
Let’s start on the Sunset Coast.
Because Tigers ace Tarik Skubal made a rehab start for the West Michigan Whitecaps on Sunday and he looked absolutely dominant in five innings of scoreless work.
Yes, it was against the Dayton Dragons, the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. So, some perspective is required.
Yes, Skubal made several Dragons look silly at times, forcing several seriously ugly swings while getting six strikeouts and allowing just two hits. Which is what you would expect from a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner facing a bunch of inexperienced kids.
Skubal simply overwhelmed them.
But even more important than the stats, Skubal looked fantastic. Felt great. Felt healthy. Touched 99 mph. Didn’t walk anybody. He just looked like his typical dominant self. And that’s fantastic news for the Tigers.
But wait, it gets better.
Let’s head east, to Detroit.
About an hour after Skubal finished his work, Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle did some more amazing Kevin McGonigle things, coming up clutch and knocking in two runs in the ninth inning with his first career walk-off hit, as the Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4, in the finale of the three-game series at Comerica Park.
Don’t look now, but the Tigers have won five of their last six games.
Yes, they are still in a deep hole – 9½ games behind the Cleveland Guardians (who have lost three of their past four games) in the AL Central.
But the Tigers are getting healthier. The lineup is getting stronger, not to mention more productive. And the wins are starting to stack up. Not only that, but more reinforcements are about to return.
Like Skubal. The best of them all.
After so much bad news about the Tigers – as they fell into a horrible hole in May, losing nearly every day that ended with a “Y” – this qualifies as something to savor and enjoy.
“I think we just need to continue winning baseball games and not really worry about any of the outside noise or what’s going on around us,” Skubal said. “We just need to win today’s game and win tomorrow’s game and stack those days. Obviously, we’ve kind of put ourselves in a tough spot, but we can turn that all around. I believe in all those guys to be able to do that, and I’m excited to get back and be able to help the team soon.”
Grand Rapids gave Skubal serious love
The other seriously cool part of this day was the scene in LMCU Ballpark, the home of the Whitecaps.
Because it’s not every day the best pitcher on the planet shows up to pitch in a minor-league park.
“It’s amazing,” said A.J. Peters, 37, of Grand Rapids, who wore a Skubal jersey. “It’s so much fun. The parking lot’s crazy. We’ve been here since like 12:30 and the stadium’s getting busier and busier.”
The crowd was announced at 8,967 – a sellout. But it was actually sold out before it was announced that Skubal was pitching for West Michigan.
So, right on cue, ticket prices went nuts for one of the biggest sporting events anyone could remember in Grand Rapids.
“For a day, it’s one of the biggest things we’ve seen,” said Jack Doles, the esteemed WOOD-TV (Ch. 8) sports director who has been around longer than the Whitecaps. “We’ve seen the Griffins win Calder Cups. We’ve seen the Whitecaps win championships. But I’ve never seen tickets for Whitecaps games go on StubHub in places for thousands, no matter what.”
About a half hour before the game, Skubal was on the field, starting to stretch. He was shown on the videoboard and the crowd erupted.
Which would become a theme on this day.
After he finished his warm up in the bullpen, fans screamed, with one yelling: “Yeah, Skubs!”
And they screamed when he took the mound.
Still, some things looked strange.
Skubal wore No. 34, not his customary No. 29 that he wears with the Tigers.
And before the third inning, there were some things you only see in a minor-league stadium. Two kids were shooting arrows at balloons, trying to pop them, as Skubal warmed up. Yeah, didn’t have that on my bingo card for a Skubal start. But Skubal didn’t seem bothered.
He was focused and intense, mowing down the Dragons.
He got a standing ovation after the fifth inning, as he walked to the outfield to go to the bullpen to finish his work.
“Really good crowd, obviously,” Skubal said. “I understand that this is in Michigan, but they don’t have to come and watch me pitch in a High-A baseball game and to kind of get a standing ovation walking off – you appreciate those things. We got the best fans in the game, so the fact that they showed up, and I saw some ticket prices, I’m like, whoa, that just means a lot.”
Skubal’s health great news for Tigers in all kinds of ways
Skubal’s health is the biggest story in baseball right now and his impact stretches way beyond the Tigers.
The fact that he has come back this fast from an elbow surgery is astonishing – and it creates a wild situation.
“The initial news was three months,” Skubal said. “The surgery went well. I bounced back well. My arm feels good now, and that’s what matters.”
Everything hinges on his health. It’s safe to say several teams are hoping the Tigers fall apart – or rather, continue to lose like they did in May – so the Tigers will trade him.
Then again, Skubal’s incredibly important for the Tigers, too. For them to climb out of the hole into which they faceplanted, they need his presence in the starting rotation. They need a healthy Skubal to have any chance.
“I still believe in this team,” Skubal said, surrounded by 13 reporters at LMCU Ballpark. “I still believe that we’re a World Series-caliber team, just with who we got. We’re getting healthy at the right time, and we’re going to make a good run at it.”
If that doesn’t happen, if the Tigers are sellers at the deadline, a healthy Skubal is far more valuable than anything else. So, that’s why this day mattered, in a different sense.
But all of that is in the future.
For right now, this is all that matters: Skubal looked healthy, he looked like he’s ready to return and the Tigers won.
And that made for a perfect afternoon for the Tigers across this entire state.
From Detroit to West Michigan.
Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him @seideljeff.
Next up: Twins
Matchup: Tigers (27-39) vs. Minnesota (30-37); series opener.
First pitch: 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, June 9; Comerica Park, Detroit.
TV/radio: Detroit SportsNet; WXYT-FM (97.1); WDTW-AM (1310; Spanish only).
Probable pitchers: Tigers – RHP Troy Melton (2-0, 1.74 ERA); Twins – RHP Taj Bradley (5-2, 3.36).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What Tarik Skubal did Sunday has an impact way beyond Tigers
Reporting by Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
