That’s pretty much how you draw it up on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Comerica Park. It was billed as the best pitching matchup of this early part of the season. Sandy Alcantara and Tarik Skubal came into this game with a combined 3 Cy Young awards between them, with Sandy pitching far and away the best baseball he’s pitched since that Cy Young campaign in 2022. Thankfully, his hot streak came to an end today, as the Tigers tagged him for 7 runs.
As much as I’ve hated on this offense, in fact, I think I’ve gone as far as to say, “I hate this offense.” I get mad at them not because I think that they’re ineffective, but because I know how good they can be. I understand that this is a young team by definition, but there are more than enough established guys in this lineup who we’ve seen be productive in the past. There’s no reason why they should go through these long stretches of being completely shut down. I don’t know, maybe they just need to face more Cy Young winners, because once Dillon Dingler went deep for a three-run shot in the first inning, it felt like it was all but inevitable that Skubal was going to roll. Also, congrats to “Magoo” on his first career home run. Here’s to 499 more.
Speaking of Skubal, was today an example of him at his absolute best? Maybe not, and yet he still took a no-hitter into the 6th inning. The Marlins did what they could to make the Cy Young winner put some effort in, but despite a few deep counts early, Tarik found his groove, giving up just 1 run over 6.2 innings, avoiding his first three-game losing streak since 2022.
Detroit has an off day tomorrow, but will stay here at Comerica Park, where they are currently 5-1 on the season, for their next series against the Kansas City Royals. Framber Valdez will be on the mound Tuesday as he looks to bounce back from a rough outing against the Twins.