Skubal (7 K's) bolsters All-Star resume in Tigers' loss

MINNEAPOLIS -- Tarik Skubal was five pitches into what ended up being an 11-pitch battle with Carlos Correa on Tuesday night when the Twins' shortstop fouled a ball hard into Target Field’s first-base stands. Skubal cringed, his competitive side giving way to his human side, and his neck tightened.

“He made a gesture, and it kind of locked up his neck, like a cramp or something,” manager A.J. Hinch said after the Tigers’ 5-3 loss.

Skubal felt it on his next pitch, and he called catcher Jake Rogers to the mound as he tilted his head sideways to try to loosen up his neck. For a second, it looked like the kind of humorous exchange the two have had many times since their days as Minor League teammates, including when Rogers lightly slapped Skubal on the side of his face a month ago after Skubal complained of something in his eye.

This was a little more serious, but Skubal was able to clear it up.

“It was a little cramp, nothing serious at all,” he said.

It was about as close as Skubal would allow the Twins to get to being a pain in the neck for him.

Correa fouled off four more pitches to stay alive in the third-inning at-bat before Skubal unleashed a 98 mph two-seamer at Correa's knees for a called third strike. He was an out away from stranding two runners when he pulled a changeup to Royce Lewis, who lined it down the left-field line for a two-run double.

A Manuel Margot fifth-inning solo homer provided the Twins’ other tally off Skubal, who left with a quality start, seven strikeouts, a no-decision and a healthy respect for the battle that went into it.

“What an opportunity; that's how you kind of envision that,” Skubal said. “What an opportunity to go up against a team that has the second-best OPS against left-handed pitching this year [.793, better than everyone but the Dodgers]. Great challenge. …

“It's a good lineup, it's a good team, and they're playing good baseball. It's a good opportunity to go out there and challenge guys and see where you're at. It was fun today. Today was a fun day. Obviously, coming out on the wrong side of it always [stinks], but as far as my opportunity, it was fun.”

This is where Skubal is at in his potential Cy Young season, hankering for a challenge. The Twins gave him all of it, even as he hit triple digits with his fastball again and mixed his arsenal for 13 called strikes across five different pitches to go with 14 swinging strikes, half of them off his changeup.

“We faced easily one of the best five starting pitchers in the big leagues, if you ask me,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “After seeing him, we’ve seen him plenty, and we don’t need to see him any time soon again because he’s tough.”

If Skubal liked this challenge, imagine what an inning or two in the All-Star Game will do for him in a couple of weeks.

Skubal, for his part, isn’t taking anything for granted. He has made plans to hang out with his family for the All-Star break, but he also made them easy to cancel. At this point, the only question would seem to be whether he’s eligible to pitch -- he’s currently on turn to pitch the Friday before the break, which would put the Midsummer Classic right on his turn -- and whether he starts the game, something no Tigers pitcher has done since Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer did it back-to-back in 2012 and '13.

Rosters will be announced shortly after Skubal’s next scheduled start on Sunday in Cincinnati. Tuesday’s battle with the Twins did nothing to hurt his cause. He’s third among AL pitchers in ERA (2.45), WHIP (0.93) and strikeouts (119) and ranks fifth in batting average allowed (.200) and quality starts (12). He has thrown seven pitches at 100 mph or harder this season, more than any AL starter besides the Angels’ José Soriano and one-time opener Ben Joyce, according to Statcast.

“Obviously you want to do those things,” Skubal said a couple of weeks ago about an All-Star appearance. “I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t want to be an All-Star. But that’s not what’s going to get me to the All-Star Game, me sitting here saying I want to be an All-Star. What’s going to get me there is going out and putting my team in a position to win a game and pitching well. So I focus on that day-to-day routine stuff.”