Skubal has chance to do something Lolich never did
Detroit Tigers great Mickey Lolich was on our minds late last weekend.
Lolich, as you may have heard while watching the Tigers sweep the Reds in Cincinnati, entered Sunday as the only Tiger ever to strike out 13 batters in a start with no walks and one or fewer runs allowed. He dominated the Angels in a 5-1 victory on July 1, 1968.
That ended when Tarik Skubal walked off the Great American Ball Park mound – does that make it the Great American Mound? – in the seventh inning of what would become ... a 5-1 victory over the Reds.
“I mean, we can stick with dominant. That’s always a good word,” manager A.J. Hinch told reporters. “It’s amazing. It’s a hot day today, y’know, obviously a big day and we’re going home, we wanna finish this road trip on a high note … and he goes out and dominates.”
It’s not the only parallel between Lolich and Skubal – both hard-throwing lefties hailing (at least in their late teens) from the Pacific Northwest. But there’s one thing that Skubal can do that Lolich never got to: Start the MLB AllStar Game.
Yes, eight Tigers (two of them multiple times) have started baseball’s Midsummer Classic, dating back to its 1933 inception.
But Lolich, who made three AL AllStar squads (1969, ’71 and ’72), doesn’t number among them. Weirdly enough, he’s the most recent Tiger with an AllStar save, back in the 1971 Tiger Stadium game.
Of course, Skubal, named to the American League All-Star squad Sunday, doesn’t exactly have an easy path to becoming the ninth on July 16 in Arlington, Texas, what with the Tigers, uh, roaring into the break with what’s likely to be a losing record. (At 43-48, they need to sweep all seven games this week – against the AL Central and NL West leaders – to climb above .500.)
Just three starters in the past 30 MLB All-Star games have come from teams with losing first-half records: Randy Johnson in 1995 (Mariners, 34-35), Esteban Loaiza in 2003 (White Sox, 45-49) and Matt Harvey in 2013 (Mets, 41-50).
With that in mind, let’s break down the competition for the AL’s starting spot:
RHP Logan Gilbert, Mariners
● Key stat: WHIP – 0.918, second in the AL.
● Signature start: June 16 vs. Rangers – 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9K.
● The case against: Gilbert might not even be the best pitcher on his own team – snubbed George Kirby has struck out more per nine innings (8.608.26) and walked WAY fewer (0.8521.836).
● The case for: No AL All-Star starter has allowed fewer hits per nine innings than Gilbert’s 6.425 (though Skubal is close, at 6.463), and his slider (which he throws 30.6% of the time) might be the most effective in the game right now.
RHP Cole Ragans, Royals
● Key stat: Strikeouts – 134, second in the AL.
● Signature start: May 22 vs. Tigers – 6 IP, 1H 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K.
● The case against: He might have the worst start within this group, a 12⁄3-inning home clunker in which he allowed seven runs (without allowing a homer) to the Orioles on April 20. He also walks about three batters per nine innings – not as bad as Anderson, but not great, either.
● The case for: Just ask the Tigers, who were no-hit by Ragans for 51⁄3 innings in May: “He does a little bit of everything, but he really comes right at you and challenges you,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He has a miss fastball, and we missed it a lot.”
RHP Tanner Houck, Red Sox
● Key stat: Home runs/9 – 0.405, first in the AL.
● Signature start: April 17 vs. Guard
ians – 9 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K.
● The case against: Houck’s barely hanging in the top 10 in most stats, despite a 2.68 ERA that’s fifth in the AL, and next to last in this group in strikeouts (106 in 111 innings).
● The case for: In addition to his stellar work not giving up homers (one of the three things pitchers truly control, along with strikeouts and walks), Houck has been dominant on the road, with a 1.91 ERA (No. 2 in the AL) and 0.957 WHIP outside of Fenway Park. (Though that’s where he threw one of the majors’ three complete-game shutouts. Go figure.)
RHP Seth Lugo, Royals
● Key stat: ERA – 2.21, first in the AL; Wins – 11, first in the AL.
● Signature start: May 12 vs. Angels – 8 IP, 5 H, 1ER, 0 BB, 12 K.
● The case against: Lugo’s underlying numbers – such as a 92.3 mph average fastball, a 23% whiff rate and 22.5% strikeout rate – are anything but impressive, especially for a 34-year-old converted reliever.
● The case for: Hey, age is just a number. Also a number? Innings, and no AL pitcher has logged more time on the mound than Lugo’s 122 frames. Also a number? Earned runs – his 30 allowed is fourth-best in the AL among ERA-qualified starters.
LHP Garrett Crochet, White Sox
● Key stat: Strikeouts – 146, first in the AL; K/9 – 12.475, first in the AL.
● Signature start: June 13 vs. Mariners – 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K.
● The case against: As good as Crochet has been, the former reliever – he made his first career big-league start against the Tigers on Opening Day – hasn’t helped the White Sox’s record much; they’re just 7-12 in his starts.
● The case for: Then again, how bad would MLB’s worst team (six wins behind the No. 2 Marlins) be WITHOUT Crochet. We may find out following this month’s trade deadline. And it’s worth noting, only one AL pitcher this season has thrown more pitches at 97 mph or better than Crochet’s 518 (30.6% of his pitches).
RHP Corbin Burnes, Orioles
● Key stat: ERA – 2.32, second in the AL.
● Signature start: March 28 vs. Angels – 6 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K.
● The case against: Aside from his ERA, Burnes is eighth in WHIP (1.021) and bWAR (2.2) – and those are pretty much the only categories in which he cracks the top 10.
● The case for: We’ll throw this one over to an imaginary O’s fan: Stats? Who needs ’em. The best starter on the AL’s best team, making his fourth straight AllStar appearance, complete with a previous Cy Young Award (2021 with the Brewers). What’s there to debate?
LHP Tarik Skubal, Tigers
● Key stat: WHIP – 0.900, first in the AL.
● Signature start: Sunday vs. Reds – 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 13 K.
● The case against: Maybe it’s the personal eye test for AL manager Bruce Bochy? Skubal’s two starts against Bochy’s Rangers weren’t his sharpest this season, with 12 hits and three walks scattered over 121⁄3 innings.
● The case for: In his 16 starts against non-Rangers squads this season, covering 972⁄3 innings, Skubal has walked just 17 and allowed 67 hits, for a WHIP of .0860.