00:00Even the best pitchers in baseball have moments they'd rather forget, and on this afternoon at
00:05Comerica Park, Tigers ace Tarek Skubal ran into one of those rare rough patches that can test a
00:11player's composure. What followed was a rollercoaster of frustration, resilience, and
00:16ultimately jubilation. A reminder that baseball is never over until the final out is recorded.
00:22Here's how it all unfolded for the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner and the
00:26team that had his back. Tarek Skubal hasn't had much reason to flash frustration so far this season,
00:32but as he marched back into the dugout in the seventh inning following Blake Perkins' game-tying
00:37two-run double, he had a moment. Skubal chucked his glove off the dugout wall, then flipped a mini
00:43cooler onto the floor, a game that seemed entirely under his control. A couple of innings earlier had
00:50turned, and the Brewers' lineup of pesky, persistent hitters had gotten to him, ending his run of back-to-back
00:55wins. With four runs on seven hits in six-plus innings, Skubal was in line for his first loss
01:01at Comerica Park since last July. So imagine his emotion as home runs from Jamai Jones and Spencer
01:07Torkelson powered the Tigers to a 5-4 walk-off win at Comerica Park. Two innings after Skubal flipped
01:14a cooler in the dugout, Riley Green and Colt Keith carried a cooler up the dugout steps and onto the
01:19field to dump on Torkelson during his post-game TV interview.
01:22Picked me up big time, Skubal said. Anytime you give me a lead, I'm going to try to do my
01:27best to
01:28win that game. For them to have my back and pick me up in that situation when I gave the
01:32lead,
01:33back away, was huge. Skubal looked primed for another run at a no-hit bid early,
01:39retiring Milwaukee's first 11 hitters in order with five strikeouts. He needed just 26 pitches,
01:4524 of them strikes, for his first trip through the Brewers' lineup and didn't reach a two-ball count
01:50until Brandon Lockridge leading off the fourth inning. He came out hot, manager A.J. Hinch said.
01:56It's a hard team to strike out, and he got a bunch of punch-outs and swing and miss early.
02:00They made a really good adjustment and started to lengthen some at-bats.
02:04Four of Milwaukee's five batters in the fourth inning reached two ball counts,
02:08including back-to-back seven pitch battles. Still, Skubal was a strike away from a fourth
02:14hitless inning when William Contreras and Gary Sanchez hit back-to-back doubles,
02:18the latter a soft line drive just out of reach of a charging Kerry Carpenter, in right field.
02:24That's a good pitcher, and he comes after you, Perkins said. I think we did a good job the second,
02:31third time around of making him work a little bit. It's making him uncomfortable, like, be annoying.
02:38That's kind of our game sometimes, especially me right now.
02:41Skubal regained his rhythm from there, keeping a lead he gained on Riley Green's two-run homer in
02:46the first inning. The Brewers tried getting Skubal out of sorts with back-to-back bunt singles,
02:51leading off the sixth inning, but Skubal used the ground ball and a strong Tigers infield to his
02:57advantage, for a Contreras double play to strand the potential tying run on third. Skubal took the
03:02mound for the seventh with his pitch count under control and a two-run lead restored, but a bloop
03:07single from Sanchez and a ground ball through the right side from Luis Matos put the tying run back
03:11on. Perkins thought about bunting, but Skubal fired a fastball off of his bat as he backed away,
03:17putting him in an 0-2 hole. Perkins fouled off a couple of tough two-strike pitches to keep his
03:22at-bat alive for a rare Skubal mistake, a 97 mph fastball that wandered over the plate for Perkins to
03:27turn on. He didn't hit the ball hard, Skubal said. Controlled contact all day, I thought.
03:33His ball gets through. Just so happens to be where our outfield's not in a position.
03:37And that's not a knock-on positioning by any means. I'm just saying that we're shifted the
03:42other way, and it ended up being a double that scores two. It's just baseball. It happens.
03:47Sanchez and Matos scrambled home as the ball rolled to the left field fence and Hinch prepared to pull
03:52his ace. Once David Hamilton singled home Perkins with a ground ball off Tyler Holton, Skubal was in
03:58line for his first loss since April 7th and his first home defeat since the Mariners beat him
04:02last July 11th. The Tigers had other ideas. I thought I executed pitches at a really high clip
04:08today, Skubal said. I think it was overall a very positive day, even though it ended kind of with a
04:14sour taste in my mouth. So, Tigers fans, after witnessing your ace battle through frustration and
04:20then watching his teammates storm back to steal a victory, how much faith do you have in this club's
04:26ability to rally when things get tough?
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