Tarik Skubal continued his impressive season on Wednesday night as the Detroit Tigers shut out the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park by a score of 5-0.
During the game, Skubal pitched seven scoreless innings while allowing just a pair of hits along the way.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the two singles Skubal allowed had 57.9 mph and 65.4 mph exit velocities, by Jorge Polanco in the first inning and Gio Urshela in the fourth.
Following the game, Tigers catcher Tucker Barnhart said it felt like he was playing a video game.
“It was like playing a video game for me,” catcher Tucker Barnhart said. “It’s pretty easy when it’s going like that. Just got to make sure you’re sequencing your pitches the right way and let him do his things. It makes it easy on me.”
Tarik Skubal, 97mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/MPBbHoFy9v
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 1, 2022
http://gty.im/1399644324
A.J. Hinch believes Tarik Skubal can get better than he already is
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch believes Skubal can get even better than he is.
“He was good, and he can get better,” Hinch said. “We’re developing a really good pitcher here. His mentality is in a good place. His execution is in a good place. His production has been elite. It’s fun to watch.”
Though the box score looks superb, Skubal did get into a bit of trouble in the first inning as he gave up the single to Polanco and then walked Urshela. Fortunately, he got out of the jam by striking out Trevor Larnach to end the inning.
“The legs and the arm weren’t working together early,” Skubal said. “On that pitch, it clicked for me. I was able to execute a pitch in a spot right there. I just need to consistently throw more strikes and more quality strikes where I want to go with the baseball.”
After that, Skubal settled in and was able to go deep into the game, which is his goal.
“That was my goal, to eat as many innings as I wanted to,” Skubal said. “If I don’t have that first inning, maybe I can go out for the eighth. That’s just part of the game. But I’m going to take the seven innings.”
Folks, the Tigers have a good one in Tarik Skubal and as we predicted before the season, he has really stepped up in 2022.
