Kansas City, Mo. — It was three hours before the game Wednesday and Tarik Skubal already had a full lather going.
He went over his post-game report from his rough outing Tuesday night with pitching coach Chris Fetter, he’d reviewed the video over and over, and he’d been out in the dense humidity working through his throwing program.
“Two pitches,” he said. “That’s really all I want back. The one to Dairon Blanco (triple) and the one to Maikel Garcia (sacrifice fly). The others I didn’t execute but I can’t expect to have perfect execution on every pitch. What I can expect, though, is having conviction on every pitch and on those two pitches I didn’t.
“And that might’ve been the day.”
After he dominated the first six hitters of the game, Skubal barely survived four innings. He ended up getting tagged for seven runs, five in a 32-pitch fourth inning. Royals’ hitters were taking close pitches down in the zone and they were jumping his two-seam and four-seam fastballs.
It seemed like they might’ve known what was coming. But Skubal dismissed the notion that he was tipping his pitches.
“Obviously your brain wants to go there,” he said. “But I think that’s a copout. Guys that go right to tipping, I think that’s a copout. Usually it’s a product of count leverage, getting ahead and pitch execution. If you look at my pitches, the two-strike execution wasn’t my best.
“It’s like, can I get better at some things? For sure. But I’m never going to make excuses for myself.”
Catcher Jake Rogers admitted that there were times when things seemed a little fishy Tuesday night.
“It was a good game by them,” he said. “It was a weird game, honestly. I didn’t think his stuff was any worse. The first couple of innings he was incredible, but it went downhill quickly. They were spitting on good pitches and catching up to heaters up in the zone – like they weren’t doing the first time through.
“I don’t think his stuff was any worse. It was just one of those days where they were hitting everything.”
Rogers encouraged Skubal not to go down the rabbit hole of looking for signs he might be tipping his pitches.
“You do that and you’re searching, that’s what I told Skubes,” Rogers said. “You might think so (that he’s tipping) but it’s just baseball. He just had one of those days. (Tipping) comes up, but who knows? You want to find it but at the same time, keep doing what you’re doing.
“Maybe they were just guessing right. It is a weird game.”
Pitchers can get paranoid about tipping. That’s what Rogers was trying to steer Skubal away from.
“He can be aware of it,” Rogers said. “He can watch video and see something. But there’s such a thing as looking too long and trying to find something. You start searching and then you move something or try to fix something and sometimes you go too far.”
Manager AJ Hinch was glad to hear Skubal dismissed the tipping excuse.
“There’s always a chance guys are going to tip,” he said. “That has taken over the sport the last five to 10 years where that’s the reason for everything. It’s not always the case. You can go back over a lot of starts, if you don’t execute, you’re going to get hit.
“It’s not that easy to just rely on tipping as the answer. He didn’t execute his pitches at the rate he normally does and he paid for it.”
Hinch said he didn’t even have to explain to Skubal why he took him out of the game after the fourth. Hinch said Skubal told him, “I know. I sucked.”
“It’s good to get your butt kicked once in a while,” Skubal said. “Even though you don’t want to. It’s good.”
What a play
Rogers did his best to take Skubal off the hook in that fourth inning. With runners at second and third and nobody out, Rogers picked off MJ Melendez at third base.
“Earlier in the game I looked for it but there was a right-handed hitter up,” said Rogers, who thought he had a chance to pick Edward Olivares off third base in the third inning with right-handed hitting Blanco up. “Obviously, you get a cleaner lane to throw with a lefty up.”
But Rogers and third baseman Zack Short had established the communication and were on high alert when Melendez got to third base in the fourth. Hinch had the infield drawn in, too, which meant Short was positioned closer to third base.
“I saw him get off (the base) and Shorty had already looked at me earlier in the game,” Rogers said. “So I looked over there again and he gave me a look like, ‘Maybe.’ So I called the pitch and looked at Melendez. The third base coach told him to get off a little more and he took two more steps.
“That’s when I shook to Shorty, ‘Yes, OK.’”
Understand that Skubal is not wired into any of this. It was communication between Rogers and Short. But when Rogers called for a fastball to lefty Nick Pratto, Skubal had an idea.
“I saw them look at each other,” Skubal said. “I was like, ‘The guy prior who was on third base was way off, too. I wonder if he’s going to throw to third.’ It was just a perfect storm. He called for a fastball up and in and I threw it way too high. He was able to catch it and throw to third.”
It ended up being a modified pitch-out.
“It all worked out perfectly,” Rogers said. “But if MJ would’ve slid a second later I would have hit him in the back and they would’ve scored two runs. He slid at the perfect time and it was a perfect throw. But if you watch the replay, it goes just over his head.”
The play warmed an old catcher’s heart on the bench. Hinch was asked if the risk-reward of that play was worth it at the time.
“One-hundred percent,” he said. “Just because of how much liberty Melendez was taking with his secondary lead. We played the infield in to cut that run off. So we wanted Melendez to stay close to the bag, which is why Shorty was by third base. If they’re going to give it to you, you take it.
“It was just an executed play. It’s not that risky if you execute…But because I’m playing the infield in, I’m telling you that run is super important to keep off the board. And Jake showed no hesitation.”
Around the horn
… It was a tough day for Hinch. He got up at 4 a.m. and drove four and half hours to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to attend the funeral for his aunt. He drove the four and a half hours back. He walked into the clubhouse are 4:30 p.m.
… The Tigers are still discussing whether Skubal’s next start will be Sunday or Monday. Hinch is leaning toward Monday. “There is still a likelihood we go with the extra rest, which we’ve mapped out really for the rest of the season,” he said. “I don’t want to commit to anything yet because so much can happen. But we are going to continue to be disciplined (with Skubal). Part of that is not being reactive to a short start.”
… Tigers prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy has been placed on the Toledo Mud Hens’ injury list with a non-disclosed issue. It is not expected to keep him out long.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
Tigers at Royals
When: 2:10 p.m., Thursday, Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City
TV/radio: BSD/97.1
Scouting report
RHP Michael Lorenzen (4-6, 3.75), Tigers: He’s coming off a gritty post All-Star Game start in Seattle. Despite feeling wonky physically and unfocused mentally, he still locked in enough to pitch 6.2 scoreless, two-hit innings with seven strikeouts. He’s under-appreciated four-seam fastball, which he throws with nearly 2,500 rpms of spin, is holding hitters to a .176 average, better than his best pitch, the changeup, which is holding hitters to a .179 average.
RHP Zack Greinke (1-9, 5.44), Royals: He’s been out since July 4 when he left the game with a shoulder injury. He’s still bringing a six-pitch mix with a velocity range 72 to 90 mph. His slider remains his best pitch, with a run value of plus-4. He’s holding hitters to a .221 average with it.