Detroit Tigers Absolutely Cannot Do This When Tarik Skubal Takes Mound
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The Detroit Tigers' 2026 season opened with a little road trip to California to take on the San Diego Padres, then they were off to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks. This away stretch did not go very well.
The Tigers secured their first series with a pair of wins, which isn't surprising as both Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez were the starting pitchers. But after that, it all went downhill as the ballclub returned to Comerica Park on a four-game losing streak.
Tarik Skubal got deGrom’d by his lineup today, going 7 innings of 1 run baseball, but taking the 1-0 loss
— Baseball Unstitched (@BaseUnstitched) April 1, 2026
His ERA down to 0.69 pic.twitter.com/V89kqcTR15
Going into the first game of the Diamondbacks series, they were winless. Now Arizona sits at .500 after a sweep of Detroit, which should have never happened, especially with Skubal making the start in the finale.
Moving forward with the season, there is an aspect to this team that has to be corrected, as wasting a start from arguably the best all-around pitcher in baseball will be their demise.
Must Win When Skubal Pitches
Between Skubal's two starts, he has a 0.69 ERA to complement a .069 WHIP as he has held opponents to a .191 batting average. Keep in mind, he went seven full innings in his start against the Diamondbacks.
In that series, he made one mistake on an 0-2 count to Corbin Carroll, who hit a 410-foot bomb in the bottom of the first inning. From that point on, not a single run was scored on either Skubal or the bullpen.
Despite the Tigers' performance defensively, the team failed to bring a runner in despite leading the game in hits (7). Even if that one pitch turned into a K instead of a homer, it wouldn't have mattered much because the hitters let the team down, again.
This was their second shutout of the season.
Tigers' Team Rankings Offensively
It is almost grimacing to see how Detroit as a whole is comparing against the rest of baseball right now, as they are towards the bottom across the board.
- Runs Scored: Tied for 20th through18th with Rockies/Yankees
- Total Hits: Tied for 24th/23rd with Guardians
- Home Runs: Last
- Total Strikeouts: 10th Most
- Batting Average: 22nd
- On-Base Percentage: 20th
- Slugging Percentage: Last
- OPS: 27th
Amongst starters, only two players are hitting above .200: rookie sensation Kevin McGonigle and Colt Keith. The pair is carrying the hitting lineup right now with batting averages above .360, but they can't do it alone.
Hopefully, Comerica Park is kind to the team as they get ready to kick off a series with the Saint Louis Cardinals. The stars for their team need to step up, which includes both Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene.
The Tigers already wasted one of Skubal's starts, and that cannot continue if this team hopes to take the division back, let alone make a deep run in October.
Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.