Skubal banks on spring familiarity with O's in 11-K gem

DETROIT -- Most No. 1 starters will use every chance in Spring Training to stay close to their home camp. That goes especially in Florida, where traffic on the highways can be unpredictable, doubly so around Lakeland. Which is why Tarik Skubal’s decision to hit the road for Sarasota and face the Orioles for his final Grapefruit League start raised eyebrows.

The Tigers had a split-squad game in Lakeland at the same time, but against a Yankees lineup that had fewer Major Leaguers. Was it really worth driving nearly two hours one way to face a lineup of O’s regulars?

“It was a pretty easy yes,” Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, said the next day. “I like competing. I think it brings the best out of me when you see the names and they’re very familiar and you know who they are. You go through your scouting reports as if it was a normal game. I like that.”

Five weeks later, as Skubal worked through an Orioles lineup that featured many of the same hitters for six scoreless innings, no walks and 11 strikeouts on Sunday afternoon, the curious decision made even more sense. His fifth career game with 11 or more strikeouts helped deliver the Tigers a three-game series sweep of the O’s with a 7-0 win to finish off an 8-2 homestand.

“I know the other side has not played particularly well yet, but they’re going to,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “This is going to be a good offense, and Tarik had to be good today to beat them. I’m sure some of that may come from the at-bats that he had against them in Sarasota, but more of it is about how can Tarik execute 100 perfect reps. And he’s getting pretty close.”

In the process, Skubal helped the Tigers craft a perfect ending to their 8-2 homestand. The Tigers’ AL-best 18-10 record is their best start to a season since 2014. They’re 18-7 since being swept at Dodger Stadium to open the season. Their 13-3 home record is their best such start since 1911, their final season at Bennett Park.

Oddly enough, three of their losses on the season have come with Skubal on the mound. But the way he pitched Sunday left little hope for the Orioles to salvage a win after being swept in a split doubleheader Saturday. Though the O’s put a runner in scoring position with less than two outs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, Skubal ended those threats with two strikeouts and a flyout.

With a 2-0 count and a runner on third in the third inning, he sandwiched a changeup in between two power fastballs to Gunnar Henderson, capped by a 99.5 mph heater that overpowered the All-Star. An inning later, Skubal fanned Heston Kjerstad on a lefty-lefty changeup to leave runners at the corners in the fourth. He fanned Jackson Holliday and Ramón Laureano after Jorge Mateo singled and stole second base to begin the fifth before ending the frame by getting Henderson to fly out.

Like Casey Mize a day earlier, Skubal used the change of speeds to his advantage against the Orioles lineup. He threw changeups with 31 of his 91 pitches, drawing swinging strikes on 12 of 19 swings off it. The pitch sequencing came from catcher Dillon Dingler, who has quickly earned Skubal’s trust since Jake Rogers was sidelined with an oblique injury. What the Spring Training outing provided was general familiarity, though neither Henderson nor Holliday played in that game.

“I think there was probably a little bit of comfort of just knowing where they stand in the box,” Skubal said.

Skubal -- who hadn’t faced the O’s in a regular-season game since 2022 -- struck out every hitter in Baltimore’s starting lineup except Mateo, who singled and stole second base both times he faced Detroit's ace, becoming the first baserunner with a two-steal game off Skubal in his career. Skubal reached just four three-ball counts for the game. He capped the last of them with a 97.7 mph fastball past Ramón Urías in the sixth inning for his eighth career double-digit strikeout game, then flipped a curveball to fan Gary Sánchez, end the sixth inning and close his outing.

Skubal has three games with no walks and 11 or more strikeouts, all since the start of last season, tying him with Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt for most in the Majors in that span. Skubal is the third Tiger in team history to toss a scoreless outing with no walks and 11 or more strikeouts, joining Aníbal Sánchez (Aug. 3, 2014) and Max Scherzer (June 17, 2012).

“I don’t like walking guys,” Skubal said. “I think that helps me with guys in the box, too. They know I’m not going to walk them, so they want to swing early and often.”