Nugget about Tarik Skubal's depressing flip play only makes it feel worse for Tigers

If you were wondering whether the Detroit Tigers were pressing — and whether luck was on the Cleveland Guardians' side — the sixth inning of Tuesday's game should've filled in some of those boxes for you.

With Tarik Skubal on the mound, the Guardians erased a 2-0 deficit and turned it into a one-run lead thanks to a pair of bunts, an infield single, a groundout, and an errant pitch and balk that at least partially can be ascribed to the harrowing "deflected bunt to the face" that preceded them. No batted balls eclipsed 66 MPH.

Bad luck for Detroit? Absolutely. But more onus falls on Skubal than would typically be the case after an inning of dinks and dunks. Because runners would've stood on first and second with nobody out instead of second and third if he hadn't, in a moment of ill-advised heroism, attempted to flip the ball to first backwards and through his legs.

It went over the first baseman's head. Everybody ran. Everybody who wasn't running memed. Skubal invited opposing fans to brand him by opening a door he never should've touched. And the worst part is? It wasn't the first time.

According to Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic (subscription required), "Skubal had attempted this play once earlier in his career, during a game in Miami, and made an error."

Tigers' Tarik Skubal has tried the desperation flip play twice. It's resulted in two errors.

The margin for error is razor thin these days. 90 free feet on the base paths could be the difference between a week of rest and a series that begins in Detroit, and five months of rest and a series that begins in 2026. Skubal is a proud ace. He has breathed fire more often than not. He does not want the ball to be put in play, especially not on sniveling bunts. He struggles to envision it before it occurs.

But he has to. He has to be more careful. He has to be better.

Skubal is the leader of this rotation. When he's on the rubber, he's also the leader of the eight men behind him. Everyone on that diamond alongside him expects to win. And he needs to project the confidence that, if the only way to possibly record an out is to flip backwards through his legs, he'd be better off accepting that two runners are on first and second and getting back to work from that point forward.

By the end of Tuesday's game, that illusion was shattered in a moment of scatter. One errant flip was a mistake. Two is a trend. And, if the Tigers are lucky enough to still be in pole position for the postseason the next time he takes the rubber, he has to pitch to win, but field not to lose.