SEATTLE – The day before his Wednesday start, Tarik Skubal went east from T-Mobile Park to Bannerwood Park in Bellevue to watch Seattle University, his old college team, get ready for its midweek game against the University of British Columbia. He couldn’t stay for the whole game, but before returning to Seattle, he laid down a bet with the coaching staff on the players’ behalf: Win today, and tomorrow’s practice would be canceled so the team could come to his start.
The Redhawks pulled off their side of the deal, coming back from a late deficit with four runs in the eighth inning to win 8-7, so they were sitting in the club level down the left-field line Wednesday to watch Skubal start in the Tigers’ series finale in Seattle.
“He got the boys a day off,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said before the game, which the Tigers dropped, 3-2. “He negotiated a day off to come out here and watch him pitch. I know this place means a lot to him, as does Seattle U. He’s been great with his time, just being able to go and spend some time with them over there, and having them out today.”
Redhawks sophomore righty Micah Hagler didn’t quite make it by first pitch. But he made sure to be there by the time Skubal took the mound for the bottom of the first.
“I actually had to wake up earlier to get my bullpen in today,” Hagler said with a laugh. “But it was definitely worth it.”
Skubal ended up going 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and striking out eight. He ended his day with 23 whiffs -- 10 each with his fastball and changeup and three with his sinker -- the early-season league high and one off his career high.
Seattle U, famously, was the only Division I team to offer Skubal a scholarship as a high schooler in Arizona. He went on to set the school record for opponents' batting average (.221), strikeouts per nine innings (9.79), wins (21) and strikeouts (224) -- despite missing a season and a half due to Tommy John surgery -- while posting the fifth-lowest ERA (3.36) in program history.
He became the second Redhawk to be selected in the first 10 rounds of an MLB Draft when the Tigers took him in the ninth round, 255th overall, in 2018.
“There was something special in this kid,” Seattle U coach Donnie Harrel said Tuesday night on the Tigers’ pregame show. “He’s created his own destiny. He’s blessed, he’s got a great family and a great support system, but he’s made who he is by all of his hard work and determination.”
Skubal returned to Seattle to pitch at T-Mobile Park as a big leaguer for the first time in 2021, striking out nine and earning the win. He came back to the Emerald City last August, punching out nine over seven innings and allowing two runs on three hits.
This time around, though, he came back to Seattle a unanimous AL Cy Young Award winner, after becoming the 22nd pitcher in MLB history to win the Triple Crown.
“It’s definitely incredibly inspiring, just being able to look at the TV and see a guy who won an AL Cy Young, who’s from a small school like Seattle U,” Hagler said. “We’re not the biggest baseball school … but it’s really cool to see him and know that he still supports us. Obviously coming out yesterday before our game, being able to pick his brain a little bit.”
Homecomings, on the other side of the country from Comerica Park, are rare for Skubal, so he -- and Seattle U -- made the most of the three days. After coming back from the Redhawks’ game Tuesday, Skubal took a break pregame to go up to the 300-level of T-Mobile Park, where the University was hosting “Tarik Skubal Night” for alumni and donors.
“It’s pretty cool that they put that all together,” Skubal said. “It’s tough to predict days that you pitch, in terms of trying to plan that, so I get why that’s not on a day I pitch.”
That set the table for Wednesday’s start, with the Redhawks in attendance after their comeback win.
“I think we were definitely looking forward to it, knowing he was going to come to town to play the Mariners, the hometown team,” Hagler said. “That’s special.”
And after the game, before the Tigers left town to finally go back to Detroit for their home opener Friday, Skubal had one last bit of his homecoming planned out.
Monday, he said that he was making himself wait to get food from his favorite college restaurant -- Tacos Chukis, a Seattle institution less than a mile from Seattle U’s campus -- until he could get it catered to the clubhouse postgame Wednesday.
So he can share it with his teammates?
“Because I want to eat it after I pitch, not before.”