00:00For those of you following the Detroit Tigers closely, let's put what happened on the mound
00:05Tuesday night into a very specific historical context because the numbers tell a unique story
00:10about just how rare this outing was for Tarek Skubal. Consider this. The last time Tarek Skubal
00:15was saddled with a loss against the Minnesota Twins, the baseball landscape looked completely
00:20different. In that game on April 28, 2022, Luis Arias was still occupying the third spot in the
00:26Minnesota batting order. Austin Meadows was patrolling right field for the Tigers, and Tucker
00:31Barnhart was the man behind the plate, receiving Skubal's pitches. That was a moment in time when
00:36Skubal was still refining the changeup that would soon become one of the most devastating weapons in
00:41the sport. Furthermore, if we rewind to September 30, 2021, that marks the last occasion Skubal failed
00:48to complete five full innings against this same Twins club. That particular game was the final
00:53start of his rookie campaign, and it featured Josh Donaldson and Brent Rooker taking him deep,
00:58and to add another layer of context to his typically impeccable control, you have to go all the way back
01:03to July 26 of last year to find the last instance of Skubal issuing walks to consecutive batters against
01:10any opponent. In that frame, he lost back-to-back 3-2 pitches to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette
01:17to load the bases, before ultimately escaping and delivering six scoreless innings against the
01:22Toronto Blue Jays. So when you look at Tuesday's performance, it fits into that category of
01:27nights that feel more emphatic than purely historic. Watching the back-to-back American League Cy Young
01:32award winner walk off the mound in the fifth inning, summoned to the dugout by manager A.J. Hinch
01:37following a four-run rally by the Twins, there was a clear sense that this was a departure from the
01:42norm. Skubal, not only, fell short in what had been shaping up to be an impressive pitcher's duel
01:48with Taj Bradley, but he was ultimately chased from the game, and for a Tigers team that was
01:53searching for a spark after dropping the previous two contests, they ended up losing a Skubal start
01:59for the second time in the span of just seven days. The final tally was a 4-2 defeat. It
02:05is critical to
02:06maintain perspective here, because this is far from a crisis point for the left-hander. The last time
02:11Skubal suffered defeats in consecutive starts, it happened at the very beginning of last season.
02:16Following that brief stumble, he responded with a stretch of dominance that saw him go 10-0 with a
02:22microscopic 1.62 ERA across his next 16 outings. However, the immediate concern for the Tigers is
02:29that this result marks a three-game losing streak for the ball club, and they have now dropped seven of
02:35their last nine games since opening the season with back-to-back victories out in San Diego. Despite the
02:40slide, the mood within the clubhouse remains steady. Rookie infielder Kevin McGonigal, who was
02:45responsible for driving in both Tigers' runs on Tuesday, put it simply, stating,
02:50We'll be good. No one's worried about that. Everyone's in a good spot. On the mound, Skubal never
02:56appeared to settle into a consistent rhythm in the cool but manageable weather conditions,
03:00as he was frequently observed blowing on his throwing hand. For the first four innings,
03:05he managed to navigate through traffic by making crucial pitches when necessary, overcoming back-to-back
03:10hits in both the second and third frames, and stranding two more runners in the fourth.
03:14Manager A. J. Hinch observed the pressure Skubal was under, noting that he pitched under stress for
03:20essentially the entire game. Hinch pointed out that while Skubal started off well, the Twins did an
03:26effective job of spoiling tough two-strike pitches, extending at-bats, and ultimately winning the
03:31critical battles, particularly during the larger rally in the fifth inning. The fifth inning itself was a
03:37study in a rare loss of command for one of the game's most precise pitchers. Brooks Lee's decision
03:42to bunt the first pitch of the inning was an indication of how well Skubal was throwing, as he
03:47entered his third trip through the Twins' order. But then, the pitcher who has been historically tough
03:52in two-strike counts, found himself unable to finish hitters off entering the night. Skubal had not issued
03:58a single walk since Game 2 of last year's American League Division Series in Seattle, and he had walked
04:03only 16 batters on 0-2 counts in his entire career. Yet, after overpowering Byron Buxton with a first
04:10pitch fastball and getting a whiff on a slider, Skubal missed badly with his next four offerings.
04:15Issuing his first walk of the season, Skubal himself acknowledged the issue, describing the
04:21misses in those two-strike counts as being too large, and noting that it is a mechanical issue he feels
04:26confident in cleaning up quickly. He regrouped briefly to get ahead of Austin Martin with a 1-2 count,
04:33locating a slider and a sinker down and in, but then, the command wavered again as he missed on three
04:39consecutive pitches, allowing Martin to reach base without ever having to swing the bat. Once Skubal was
04:45forced back into the strike zone, the Twins' patience paid off immediately. Luke Keishaw turned on a 0-1
04:51changeup located at the bottom of the zone, and drove it back through the middle for an RBI single,
04:56then came Ryan Jeffers, a hitter who entered the evening with a career average of just 1-for-23
05:02against Skubal. Jeffers escaped in 0-2 hole by fouling off back-to-back 1-2 offerings before
05:08connecting on a slider that was located off the plate, driving it into the right field corner for
05:14a two-run double. Reflecting on the sequence, Skubal suggested that while the contact from Jeffers
05:20might have involved a bit of misfortune, the two walks that preceded it were purely self-inflicted
05:25damage that he needs to address. Skubal then struck out Victor Caratini and appeared poised to do the
05:30same to Josh Bell, getting the veteran to chase a high changeup on a 1-2 pitch, but Bell managed
05:36to
05:36get the barrel on that pitch and rip it into the left field corner for a double and an additional
05:40insurance run, completing the Twins' decisive turn against the Tigers' ace. I guess you can tip your cap,
05:46Skubal said in summary, but I think the misses were just a little too big at times. As the Tigers
05:51look to snap out of this early season funk, it raises the question that we have to consider
05:55moving forward. When you see a competitor of Skubal's caliber have a night defined by uncharacteristic
06:01walks and missed locations in crucial spots, do you chalk it up as just one of those rare fluky
06:06evenings that happens over a 162-game season, or does it signal a slight mechanical hiccup that the
06:12coaching staff needs to monitor closely before his next turn in the rotation?
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