{"id":1030506,"date":"2026-08-29T07:38:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T07:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1030506\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T07:38:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T07:38:48","slug":"tarik-skubal-shines-in-emotional-return-to-detroit-in-dodgers-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1030506\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal shines in emotional return to Detroit in Dodgers’ win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DETROIT\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As Tarik Skubal<\/a> crossed the field from the bullpen, he had to crane his neck to catch part of the tribute video playing on the massive screen behind him.<\/p>\n

By the time he reached the Dodgers<\/a> dugout, the crowd rose to give him an ovation. Skubal controlled his expression and wiped his face with the towel draped over his neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were definitely tears,\u201d Skubal said after the Dodgers\u2019 2-1 win<\/a> over the Detroit Tigers on Friday. \u201cLuckily enough, I was able to make it to the tunnel before more happened. But yeah, it\u2019s tough. This is a place I\u2019ve known my entire career, since 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than four weeks ago, he said goodbye to the only organization he\u2019d known \u2014 the Tigers drafted him in 2018 out of Seattle University. Now, he was back in the ballpark he\u2019d called home for six years.<\/p>\n

Clad in road grays, Skubal showed why he was widely considered the best player available at the trade deadline, holding the Tigers to one run and four hits over six innings. The Dodgers\u2019 offense continued to struggle but did just enough to bounce back from a three-game sweep in Atlanta \u2014 the 14th time this month they played a game decided by a single run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he embraced it,\u201d Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman<\/a> said. \u201cHe left everything he had for this organization, multiple Cy Youngs, he left it all for them. I think that\u2019s why he got so many cheers. I\u2019m sure during the game they weren\u2019t too thrilled with all the strikeouts he was racking up, but it\u2019s hard to boo a man who gave you everything he had every five days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal\u2019s reception included some boos (and \u201cScuuuub\u201ds) as he took the mound. Even though the trade was out of Skubal\u2019s control, a faction of the Tigers fan base \u2014 including this reporter\u2019s rideshare driver from the airport \u2014 was upset Skubal never reached an agreement for a contract extension with Detroit (62-72).<\/p>\n

The Tigers\u2019 last publicly discussed extension offer was four years and $75 million at the end of 2024 \u2014 which drastically pales in comparison to the contract he\u2019s expected to garner in free agency this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the last name Skub, you don\u2019t know if they are boos or if they\u2019re cheering for you,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cSo I\u2019m going to assume they were cheering for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Even if that wasn\u2019t true in every case, the mutual affection between the player and Detroit took center stage Friday, even as Skubal tamed the Tigers\u2019 offense, recording seven strikeouts in the process.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Dodgers have struggled at times since the All-Star break, but Will Smith\u2019s return from injury and Shohei Ohtani\u2019s return to pitching should help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I wasn\u2019t going to be [emotional], but I\u2019ve come to figure out I don\u2019t really know myself that well,\u201d Skubal said of the video tribute. \u201cThe timing kind of threw me for a loop a little bit. But I think the emotions would\u2019ve been the same regardless of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He quickly reined in his emotions. After a delay for a PitchCom<\/a> malfunction, Skubal gave up a leadoff double to Detroit\u2019s Gleyber Torres on a fastball down the middle. But then the left-hander retired the next 12 batters.<\/p>\n

Skubal struck out the side in the third inning, getting Max Clark to swing through a changeup, Javier B\u00e1ez to chase a high fastball and Torres to watch an off-speed pitch clip the bottom of the zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the get-go, his fastball command set up a lot of his pitches,\u201d catcher Hunter Feduccia said. \u201cEstablishing inside to righties and running the sinker in to lefties kind of opens up a lot. So that was kind of the game plan coming in; he executed it to a T.\u201d<\/p>\n

That streak ended with a double up the left-field line from Eduardo Valencia, who turned on an inside slider to lead off the fifth. Then with two outs, Clark stayed back on an outside fastball and sent it the other way for a triple that drove in the game\u2019s first run.<\/p>\n

Skubal, who induced B\u00e1ez to fly out to center to escape the inning, punched the palm of his glove on his way off the field.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers (81-54) missed a chance to tie with one out in the sixth, when Kyle Tucker<\/a> was thrown out at home trying to score on a pinch-hit single by Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>. But they salvaged the inning when Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> drew a walk and Miguel Rojas, also pinch-hitting, smoked a single through the infield to tie the score.<\/p>\n

After Skubal navigated some hard contact in the sixth, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh but failed to score.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani reacts after striking out in the sixth inning against the Tigers on Friday.<\/p>\n

(Gregory Shamus \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it could be even more frustrating for an offense,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cWe keep getting those opportunities, but ultimately we\u2019ve got to cash those in. We haven\u2019t done that in the last few days, but we\u2019re all optimistic around here if we can keep creating these opportunities, at some point, as good as we are, we\u2019ll get those hits. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have a pitching group that keeps us in games, and they\u2019ve been keeping us in it the last, I would say three, four, five weeks. As an offense, we\u2019ve got to get it going. We know it\u2019s crunch time and hopefully we can get hot here going into the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal\u2019s night was over after only 83 pitches. With Skubal coming off back-to-back 100-pitch starts, manager Dave Roberts didn\u2019t want to push him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted to stay in, and I love that, I respect that,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe felt he had some more in there, but I had my thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers finally took the lead in the eighth, manufacturing a run with singles from Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez and Freeman around a sacrifice bunt from Ben Rortvedt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 bullpen held steady, with closer Tanner Scott earning his 20th save.<\/p>\n

After the game, Skubal, who set the tone for the victory, returned to the field to catch up with his former teammates. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did a good job of keeping baseball baseball, and trying to compete and give our team a chance to win,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cBut obviously this place is special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As Tarik Skubal crossed the field from the bullpen, he had to crane his neck to catch part…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1030507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,42421,1449,2442,37574,2091,1910,22899,22893,2961,224,5337,10201,293775,54306,34551,5957,96691,2971],"class_list":["post-1030506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-contract-extension","tag-detroit","tag-dodgers","tag-fastball","tag-field","tag-game","tag-gleyber-torres","tag-javier-baez","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-run","tag-seventh","tag-skubal","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-teoscar-hernandez","tag-third-inning","tag-tigers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117177663693111641","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1030506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1030507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1030506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1030506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1030506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}