DETROIT — The Tigers had been on the road for 15 days when they landed in Detroit on Monday afternoon. The first thing Tarik Skubal did was go to Comerica Park and get ready for their next trip.
He was down to his last clean pair of underwear, but before he did laundry, before he could even catch a nap, he had to begin his preparation for his next start.
“That’s where I was mentally,” Skubal explained. “I flew back, got back to work.”
In an ideal world, that could have been Game 1 of the ALCS. But that wouldn’t have been as much fun for the narrative.
Instead, for the second consecutive year, the Tigers will hand their postseason fate to Skubal in a winner-take-all Game 5 of their AL Division Series.
His first taste of that is forever a part of Cleveland sports lore thanks to Guardians outfielder Lane Thomas’ grand slam off him, turning what had been a pitching duel into Cleveland’s trip to the ALCS. Skubal has never tried to make that a motivating factor for him this season; he has always tried to keep his focus looking forward. But he also knows the story.
“I’ll let you guys create the narrative,” Skubal said with a slight smirk. “I’m just going to do what I do best, and that’s play baseball and create pitches. The game is still the game. I’ll let you guys write the stories and do your jobs, but you’re not going to get anything from me.”
In fairness, the story almost writes itself: Can Skubal carry the Tigers past the Division Series and into their first ALCS berth since 2013?
But maybe the story should be: Can Skubal finally beat the Mariners?
It’s not just that Seattle was the only team to hand Skubal multiple losses in the regular season. It’s that the Mariners have won all three matchups against Skubal this year, including Game 2 of this series Sunday at T-Mobile Park.
Officially, Skubal got a no-decision thanks to Spencer Torkelson’s game-tying two-run double in the eighth before the Mariners rallied off Kyle Finnegan. But two Jorge Polanco solo homers off Skubal dug the hole that Torkelson briefly lifted them out of.
To win against Skubal twice in the same series, and four times in the same season, would be a mighty feat. But it’s something the Mariners were pinning their hopes on after the Tigers rallied Wednesday for a Game 4 win.
“We’ve been able to get to Skubal throughout, and we have another chance to do that on Friday,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.
On the flip side, Skubal has another chance to make adjustments and close the leak. He has recent experience doing that.
Before Skubal took on the Mariners in Game 2, he faced the Guardians in three consecutive starts. He took a no-decision with six innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 loss at Comerica Park on Sept. 18, then paid for a three-run inning that included two self-inflicted mistakes in a 5-2 loss on Sept. 23 at Progressive Field.
Each outing had a little twist — a few more curveballs one game, more sliders in another. The postseason matchup, of course, had triple-digit fastballs throughout. Don’t be surprised to see a similar twist in his latest go-around with the Mariners lineup.
“You learn from stuff,” said catcher Dillon Dingler, who plays a big role in the game plan and a bigger role in calling pitches. “Obviously we’re going to dig a little bit deeper into Polanco. And then he’s going to pitch his game.
“We don’t vary too much from what he’s really good at. We don’t venture too far off. We’ll increase offspeed, we’ll increase fastball, we’ll increase slider or changeup, just little tiny things just to get us to that finish line.”
Skubal’s comments after Game 2 suggested the Tigers figured Polanco was onto something. His first homer came on a 2-0 slider over the heart of the plate, his second on a full-count sinker. In both at-bats, the switch-hitter laid off changeups, the devastating pitch that allows Skubal to dominate right-handed hitters, to get to a different pitch over the plate.
“He seemed to have seen the ball pretty well from me,” Skubal said after that game. “He took some changeups down that were just below [the zone]. Generally when I throw it right there and execute, there’s a good result for me.”
Skubal hasn’t had a good result against the Mariners all season. This is a good time to change fortunes.
