Talk about a tremendous return from Tarik Skubal. In his season debut, Skubal truly shined, no-hitting the A’s through four innings, and really looking to be in great shape.
But before I get too carried away in enthusiasm for Skubal, let’s go back to the beginning and see how it all came together.
Skubal had a 1-2-3 start to the day, no shocker there given what I’ve told you about the no-hitter, I suppose. In the bottom of the first Matt Vierling started off with a single against JP Sears, then successfully stole second. The next three batters went down in order, however, leaving the game scoreless. It would stay like that for a while.
Skubal once again went three up three down in the second. The Tigers were active but scoreless in the bottom half, collecting singles from Jake Rogers and Miguel Cabrera.
You guessed it, 1-2-3 inning in the third, but Sears managed to do the same, making for a quick inning.
In the fourth with two outs Brent Rooker was hit by a pitch to give the A’s their first baserunner of the night. But Skubal limited the damage to just the one man aboard and no runs scored. Sears had another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half. The fourth was also the end of the day for Skubal who went 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K on 57 pitches. Only the hit by pitch marred his otherwise perfect start to the game. It was really too bad he couldn’t get through five, but the abundance of caution with him just being back does make sense.
Reese Olson was next out of the pen, giving up a one-out walk to Ryan Noda, but otherwise keeping the A’s bats silent. In the bottom of the fifth Cabrera singled again, but was eliminated by a fielder’s choice off the bat of Eric Haase. The next two outs ended the bottom half for the Tigers.
In the sixth it was 1-2-3 for the Tigers and still no hits for the A’s.
Top of the seventh and with two hours, the no-hitter ended with a single from Shea Langeliers. While no runs scored it was still a bummer, because Olson was doing a really solid job stepping in after Skubal. The Tigers went down in order in the bottom half.
Olson continued to roll through the A’s with a 1-2-3 eighth. Good time to remind you that even though the no-hitter is dead, so is the Tigers’ offense, because this game is scoreless. Bottom of the eighth saw a one-out single for Zack Short, and that was all she wrote for Sears, who was (I hate to admit it) excellent. A Vierling single put men at the corners and Kerry Carpenter was brought in to hit for Andy Ibanez. Carpenter walked to load the bases, and with two outs, it was all up to Javier Baez. Unfortunately, a strikeout left them loaded and scoreless.
The ninth went scoreless on both sides, though worth noting that Olson continued to look really good.
In the top of the tenth, the ghost runner really haunted the Tigers. With Wade on second, he was advanced to third by a sacrifice hit from Peterson, and then a Noda single scored Wade for the first run of the game, and an A’s lead. Vierling walked to put two men on. Sadly the Tigers could not stage a comeback and they had to take the L.
Final: Athletics 1, Tigers 0