Tarik Skubal is a guy who is constantly outdoing himself. Almost every performance on the mound is better than the last, and the Tigers just refuse to lose when he's starting for them. Game 2 of the Tigers-Guardians ALDS was no exception. If you thought his outing in the Wild Card round against the Astros was good, his showing in Cleveland was even better.
Skubal went seven innings and only gave up three hits, no walks, and struck out eight, becoming the first Tigers pitcher to do so since Justin Verlander in 2013. The changeup was doing exactly what he needed it to do, and Guardians hitters didn't stand a chance.
He did get into a couple of tough spots here and there, though. In the bottom of the fifth, Josh Naylor hit a one-out double, and then Skubal let a rare pitch get away from him to hit Jhonkensy Noel and put two men on. It was the most trouble Skubal had seen all day, but the Tigers defense was there for him. Andrés Giménez hit a fastball hard onto the ground, but Andy Ibáñez grabbed it in the hole between first and second and flipped it to Trey Sweeney, who fired it to Spencer Torkelson at first. Double play, inning over.
Skubal roared and strutted off the field, but not without directing a few choice words to the fans at Progressive: "SHUT THE F— UP!"
It became an instant meme and a classic moment for Tigers fans, but Skubal's mom Laura took exception. She jumped on social media to scold her son and strike fear in the hearts of anyone who's ever had their mom refer to them by their full name.
Tarik Skubal's mom reprimands her son after NSFW response to inning-ending double play
Someone's definitely getting grounded.
Skubal pitched two more innings after that double play, with the Tigers defense getting him out of trouble again in the sixth after Brayan Rocchio doubled and then Steven Kwan singled. David Fry hit another fastball on the ground, but this time the play was a lot closer. Sweeney scooped it, tossed to Colt Keith at second, and the ball arrived at first just in the nick of time, with Torkelson stretching into a nice split to end the inning. Skubal kept the swearing to a minimum that time, instead holding out his arms to crowd as if to say, "Are you not entertained?"
Kerry Carpenter won the game for Detroit with a three-run bomb off of Emmanuel Clase that the Guardians couldn't make up for against the might of the Tigers' bullpen, but it was just as much (if not more so) Skubal's game. Hopefully his mom won't keep him grounded for too long. We might need him for Game 5.