DETROIT -- Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal had it all going against the Yankees in New York's 5-0 loss on Tuesday afternoon at Comerica Park. He dropped back in his delivery, and served up a steady stream of frustrating pitches over six scoreless innings.
Yankees veteran right-hander Carlos Carrasco gave up three solo homers in the fourth inning as hot-hitting Spencer Torkelson led off with a 404-foot shot to left-center. Then came back-to-back homers on sinkers by Zach McKinstry and Dillon Dingler to provide Skubal more than enough cushion with a 4-0 lead.
¡°He got a little bit of a lead there and really goes on the attack,¡± said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. ¡°He put us on our heels a little bit. ¡Today, Skubal got a lead and beat us, period.¡±
Boone had been asked prior to the game for the keys to getting to Skubal.
¡°Oooooo,¡± he said, pausing. ¡°I mean, you¡¯ve got to take advantage of those small cracks that you get, whether it¡¯s a pitch in the heart of the plate. If you can pressure him, taking advantage of [those] opportunities, because there are not going to be many of them with a guy like him.¡±
The Bombers (6-5), who have now lost three consecutive games while going homerless, had just such an opportunity in the first inning when leadoff hitter Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice hit back-to-back singles to start the game.
But Skubal then got MLB's homer and RBI leader Aaron Judge to go down swinging on a 2-2 changeup on the low outside corner. Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out, with first baseman Torkelson tossing to a covering Skubal at first while both runners advanced.
Anthony Volpe, however, took a called third strike to end the threat, and the 2024 unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner was on his way to retiring 16 consecutive Yankees. Goldschmidt broke up the streak with a one-out infield single in the sixth and Judge hit an opposite-field single with two outs. But Skubal got Chisholm to pop out to third for his final out of the game.
¡°He was attacking the zone,¡± said Chisholm. ¡°He pitched us completely different from how our scouting report had him throwing. He kept us off-balance, hit his spots.
¡°I was expecting more of the hard stuff today; he was throwing a lot of offspeed today. He¡¯s normally a fastball guy -- he throws 100 [mph] -- and he was hitting his spots with the offspeed, as well.¡±
Added Boone: ¡°His delivery¡¯s deceptive, so there¡¯s that to start with. Then, it¡¯s three pitches. He¡¯s going to be mid- [to] upper-90s with the fastball. Really, really outstanding changeup and a good breaking ball. He¡¯s got everything. So he won that Cy Young for a reason. Having three outstanding pitches with that deceptive delivery makes him hard to get a bead on.¡±
Skubal allowed just four hits (none for extra bases) and didn¡¯t walk anybody while striking out six.
Carrasco gave up four runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three, walked one and threw 40 of his 59 pitches for strikes.
¡°Obviously, they stung some balls against him,¡± Boone said. ¡°It¡¯s imperative he really commands all of it. He¡¯s got to have that elite command. He doesn¡¯t have a lot of margin, so that¡¯s what he¡¯s done a good job of. I felt like that even at times today, he did a nice job of that -- handled the top of the lineup today pretty well.¡¯¡¯
Detroit¡¯s Nos. 1-3 hitters -- Justyn-Henry Malloy, Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene -- were 0-for-6 against Carrasco with three strikeouts.
¡°Probably just too many in the heart [of the plate] that they were able to take advantage of and throw some extra-base hits on him," Boone said. "Command is king, you know.¡±
Carrasco added: ¡°I just missed a couple of spots right there, and I got hurt.¡±
Either Carrasco (1-1, 7.71 ERA) or Will Warren (0-0, 6.00) is expected to exit the rotation when Clarke Schmidt -- who is likely making his final rehab appearance Thursday -- returns from the injured list. Carrasco doesn¡¯t have Minor League options remaining, but Warren does.
The Yankees' bullpen had its string of 15 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run broken when Ryan Yarbrough replaced Carrasco and immediately gave up a solo homer to Carpenter.
The Bombers, meanwhile, had 22 homers in six home games to begin the season, but have hit just three in five road games since. They've scored just six runs during their three-game losing streak.
¡°I don¡¯t know if I see highs and lows," Boone said. "We just haven¡¯t scored the last few days. We score three or four or five, and people talk about it."
He added with a laugh: "But that¡¯s just not reality.¡±