Skubal deals vs. Ohtani; Miggy's fly just shy

DETROIT -- Shohei Ohtani was as good as advertised. Tarik Skubal is getting there.

One year ago to the day, Skubal was a hard-throwing, high-strikeout lefty still looking for consistency while making his Major League debut in Chicago against a juggernaut White Sox squad. On Wednesday, he went inning for inning in a pitching duel with Ohtani.

“That young man who pitched tonight is outstanding,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said of Skubal after the Tigers’ 3-1 loss at Comerica Park. “And with good health, you're going to watch him at the top of the leaderboards in the future. His stuff is really that good."

Skubal couldn’t help Detroit hitters figure out Ohtani’s filthy splitter, but his 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball gave the Tigers a chance before Ohtani’s 40th homer of the year helped seal Detroit’s third consecutive defeat.

On a night when 27,282 came to Comerica Park to watch Ohtani’s historic season intersect with Miguel Cabrera’s quest for a historic homer, Skubal provided another reminder of the Tigers’ future.

“I just love how he’s pitching,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s not just a thrower. He’s got great stuff, and he can light up the radar gun. He can spin it a little bit. He can mix his pitches. But he competes, and I think that’s part of the arsenal.”

It’s more than he was doing when he made the jump from the alternate training site to the big leagues last summer without a real Minor League season to ramp up. Really, it’s more than he was doing a month ago, when a midseason stretch raised questions whether he might be wearing down.

Skubal gave up nine home runs over 27 2/3 innings in July, allowing a .571 slugging percentage for the month and raising his ERA for the season to 4.53. Six of those home runs came in back-to-back outings at the end of the month against the Royals and Orioles.

When former Tiger Justin Upton sent a Skubal fastball 427 feet toward the flagpole just beyond left-center field, punishing a 2-2 pitch over the plate after an 0-2 count, it marked the first home run off Skubal in three August starts. It also accounts for both runs he has allowed in 17 2/3 August innings, during which he has two walks and 17 strikeouts.

“It’s unfortunate that one pitch, that’s the difference in the game,” Skubal said. “If I execute that pitch up and in, I think it’s a different result completely. I don’t think it’s a home run. Maybe it’s a hit, but I don’t think he’s running it out of the yard.”

Skubal settled in to retire 17 of his next 19 batters, including six of his seven strikeouts. He left with two runners on in the seventh inning.

Skubal has taken some power-heavy lineups with the Red Sox, Orioles and Angels and held them relatively in check. He took Ohtani, the Majors’ leading slugger and AL MVP favorite, and held him hitless in three at-bats, including a strikeout to begin the game.

Upton’s homer aside, Skubal’s fastball has been more effective in August after opponents hit .441 against it in July. His slider has had mixed results, but he used it effectively up in the strike zone Wednesday, including on Ohtani’s first-inning strikeout. His changeup, a pitch he brought back during the season after shelving it for a split changeup early in the year, has been progressing, drawing four of his 12 swings and misses Wednesday.

“I felt like I was commanding things where I wanted to go, throwing offspeed in hitters’ counts,” Skubal said. “Getting ahead of guys on strike one, too, was a big thing. I felt like I was in my counts most of the night.”

Said Hinch: “If he learns the front and back part with the changeup, watch out. I mean, that’s a big step forward for him, facing a lot of different lineups that are probably going to be predominantly right-handed, and it’s an added dimension to his game. I just love the step-by-step process that he’s going about in his development.”

While Cabrera’s search for his 500th homer continues, Ohtani’s majestic 430-foot, eighth-inning drive to stretch the Angels' lead off José Cisnero left the crowd in awe on his way to a victory after pitching eight innings.

Ohtani allowed just one run, on a Willi Castro fifth-inning homer, and held Cabrera to a first-inning ground-ball single in three at-bats. No one might have been happier to see Angels closer Raisel Iglesias enter for the ninth than Cabrera, who jumped his first pitch and sent a towering fly ball to right that died just shy of the fence.