Fresh off his best performance since undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow, Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal will try to keep his team on a roll tonight against the visiting Kansas City Royals.
The Tigers won the opener of the four-game series 4-3 on Thursday night, their fifth victory in seven games coming out of the All-Star break.
Skubal (6-5, 2.83 ERA) fired seven shutout innings in a 7-0 win against the Los Angeles Angels last Saturday, his seventh start since missing six weeks following the surgery. He is 3-3 with a 2.97 ERA in that seven-start stretch.
The two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner allowed five hits to the Angels, all singles. He struck out nine and didn’t issue a walk on a tidy 87 pitches.
“I’m not going to change who I am on the mound, but I don’t think I’ve held up my side of the deal lately in the last couple of starts,” Skubal said. “It’s just frustrating. The way to fix that is to get ahead with first-pitch strikes and put guys away in three or four pitches.”
Skubal threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 24 batters he faced in Anaheim, Calif.
“The more you’re in the zone, the more they start swinging, and that allows you to pitch deeper,” said Skubal, a potential target for contenders ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. “I’ve been frustrated, for sure, but I can’t let that impact my start. (Saturday) was much better.”
The Royals are one of the few teams Skubal has struggled against during his career. He owns a 4-9 record and 4.06 ERA in 18 appearances against Kansas City, including 16 starts.
The Tigers will go up against a left-hander as well, with Noah Cameron set to be the bulk reliever after right-hander Beck Way (1-0, 3.22 ERA) starts tonight.
Way, a 26-year-old rookie, will make his first career start after 18 relief appearances. He was pitching well until his latest outing, when he yielded four runs (one earned) in 1⅔ innings against the San Diego Padres last Sunday.
Cameron (5-8, 5.27 ERA) surrendered five runs and five hits in seven innings during a 6-1 loss July 11 to the Baltimore Orioles, then took a further step back coming out of the All-Star break. He gave up seven runs and nine hits in five innings in a 19-2 loss to the Padres last Sunday.
“I feel like I let the team down a lot,” Cameron said. “Obviously, coming into (Sunday), trying to get a sweep. Come out, that first inning is good, but after that, things kind of went downhill.”
Cameron has a 7.97 ERA in his past seven starts, and he has surrendered at least five runs in four of his past five appearances.
“He’s also had some really good stretches in games where he’s shown that he can eat innings and he can be really effective,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We want him to pitch. He’s good, and he’s had a couple of tough games, but we need him.”
Cameron reached triple digits in innings during his latest start (100⅔) and is creeping up on the 138⅓ innings he tossed last season as a rookie.
“Obviously, I’m throwing a lot of stressful innings,” Cameron said. “It’s been tough, but realistically, I just have to stay healthy and keep throwing innings, and hopefully things will decrease numbers-wise and I can have some good outings. Try to stay healthy as much as we can. We obviously need it.”
Cameron made his only career start against the Tigers on May 10 and did not receive a decision after allowing three runs and four hits in four-plus innings.
The Royals had won five of their six games since the All-Star break before dropping the series opener to the Tigers.
Quatraro was absent from the Thursday game due to a personal matter, with bench coach Paul Hoover filling in as manager. The Royals announced Quatraro’s absence isn’t expected to last long.
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