John Niyo: Tigers eager to play their ace in winner-take-all game of high stakes

DETROIT — Tarik Skubal felt a lot like most of the fans did in the stands during Wednesday’s potential playoff elimination game at Comerica Park.

He saw his teammates struggling at the plate, trudging back to the dugout one after another in Game 4 of the American League Division Series, and he felt the silence growing louder in the ballpark as the Seattle Mariners slowly extended their lead through the early innings.

And, yes, “like anybody watching,” the Tigers’ ace would admit later, “you almost felt like the season was coming to an end.”

But it wasn’t. And now, after a cathartic offensive outburst extended the Tigers’ season for at least one more game, Skubal knows his team’s fate is no longer out of his hands. Instead, it’s riding on his award-winning arm.

He’ll take the mound for a winner-take-all Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Friday night in Seattle, trying once more to send the Tigers back to the AL Championship Series for the first time since 2013. And for a wild-card team that began this series as underdogs, that fact alone gives them a decided edge heading into one of the toughest environments in Major League Baseball.

“Sitting in my chair, one of the easiest things to do — and one of the most exciting things to do — is hand the ball to the best pitcher in baseball,” manager AJ Hinch said, shortly after the Tigers had completed their 9-3 comeback win Wednesday. “He's so prepared for this moment. He obviously is somebody deeply trusted in our clubhouse to bring intensity, to bring high-end pitching, and bring results.

“We win together, we lose together, but he leads us, you know? He's a big presence going into Game 5. As we get on this plane to go across the country, we've got a lot of optimism heading that way because of the presence of Tarik Skubal.”

The beautiful game

It’s a presence without any pretense with Skubal, of course. And the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner — he’s a virtual lock to win it again this season — won’t waste anyone’s time trying to downplay the significance of Friday’s start at T-Mobile Park. The Tigers’ season is on the line, obviously. Skubal knows a dominant performance will add another chapter to his legacy, too.

Thirty years ago, another flame-throwing lefty, Randy Johnson, did something similar for the Mariners, silencing the Yankees in the since-demolished Kingdome across the street. But for Skubal, this is a chance to do what Justin Verlander did for the Tigers in Game 5 of the ALDS in back-to-back seasons in 2012 and ‘13, blanking Oakland each time.

The A’s are the team Skubal actually grew up rooting for as a kid, but it shouldn’t be lost on anyone, either, the significance of Skubal getting this opportunity in Seattle, where he played in college for the only Division I school that offered him a scholarship. Last weekend, he bought tickets to Game 2 of the ALDS for all 34 players on the current Seattle University team, both as a show of gratitude and a reminder that anything’s possible.

Still, as improbable as it sounds, Skubal knows he’ll be facing a Mariners team that has beaten the Tigers in all three of his starts this season, including a 3-2 win in Seattle five days ago. Skubal pitched seven innings in that one, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out nine. But he gave up a pair of solo homers to Jorge Polanco and then watched as Seattle scored the winning run in the eighth inning off reliever Kyle Finnegan.

His ERA in those three starts against the Mariners (4.58) is more than twice his AL-leading regular-season ERA (2.21), which is why Seattle manager Dan Wilson felt comfortable enough after Wednesday’s loss to say, “I think we've been able to get to Skubal throughout, and we have another chance to do that on Friday.”

Yet the Cleveland Guardians were saying something similar before facing Skubal in Game 1 of the wild-card round, having beaten the 28-year-old lefty in his last two starts in September. And all he did in that playoff opener was tie a franchise playoff record with 14 strikeouts in a dominant outing for a 2-1 win.

“Yeah, this is what competition is all about,” said Skubal, who owns a 2-1 record with a 2.14 ERA in five career playoff starts over the past two seasons. “This is why you play the game. … It's competition, and I think that that's going to bring out the best in everyone involved. And that's why this game is so beautiful. We're going to be able to go experience that on Friday.”

'We have to help him'

For Skubal and the Tigers, this could be a full-circle moment, in many ways. It was a year ago Sunday that the Tigers’ ace started a decisive Game 5 in the ALDS in Cleveland. But another stellar outing there took a dramatic turn in the fifth inning when the Guardians’ Lane Thomas hit a grand slam off Skubal that flipped a 1-0 Detroit lead into what became a 7-3 loss.

Back in spring training, Skubal acknowledged that painful memory had served as motivational fuel throughout his offseason. But now that he and the Tigers find themselves back in that same spot a year later, don’t bother asking him to finish drawing the redemptive arc of this story for you.

“I'll let you guys create the narrative,” Skubal said Wednesday, the day before he boarded a flight to Seattle with his teammates. “I'm just going to do what I do best, and that's play baseball and create pitches. The game is still the game. I'll let you guys write the stories and do your jobs, but you're not going to get anything from me.”

Maybe not, but the Mariners should expect to get everything he has, and then some. In Game 2, Skubal threw 11 pitches of 99-mph or more, topping out at 100.7 mph against Julio Rodriguez in the fourth inning. In the playoff opener in Cleveland, he threw 11 pitches that hit triple-digits on the radar gun. Friday night, the Mariners should expect to feel similar heat.

But they probably shouldn’t expect to make Skubal sweat, at least figuratively speaking, just because the stakes are raised about as high as they can get.

“Yeah, like I've said before, the experience of playoff baseball, I understand win-or-go-home games are a little bit different, but every game means a ton,” Skubal said. “So it's not like Game 1 or Game 2 or Game 3 are any different than Game 5 in terms of wins or losses. The game stays the game, and that's kind of what you're going to hear me reiterate, is I just need to be focused on pitch-by-pitch and execute the game plan that we’ll create.”

After the Tigers came home from Seattle with a 1-1 series split earlier this week, Skubal was hoping his next start would be in Game 1 of the ALCS on Sunday. But he was planning for this scenario, anyway, and going about his normal routine between starts.

“I mean, that's where I was at mentally,” said Skubal, who'd be in line to pitch Game 3 of the best-of-seven ALCS in Detroit next Wednesday if the Tigers advance. “Obviously, I would have loved to win the last two games and be going to celebrate right now, popping bottles. But that's just not in the cards, and that's OK.”

It should be, so long as the Tigers’ hitters do their part. That’s a point Gleyber Torres was trying to make in the clubhouse after Game 4, stressing the need for Detroit’s offense to grab an early lead Friday night and give their ace a little more breathing room.

“We know he’s awesome, and he can do whatever he wants,” Torres said, “but we have to help him.”

Still, simply having him on the mound to start the game does help everyone. The Tigers have won more than two-thirds of Skubal’s starts (45-22) over the last two seasons, playoffs included.

“And it's nice to have the best pitcher in the world going in the most important game of our season, obviously,” laughed rookie Troy Melton, one of the unsung pitching heroes in Games 1 and 4 in this series. “I mean, we have all the confidence in that guy, and there's no reason we shouldn't — or anybody else shouldn't. It’s a pretty cool feeling.”