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Tigers Baseball Report

Tarik Skubal Crosses Career Strikeout Milestone in Latest Tigers Loss

It is a team game, but with a generational player, there should always be some recognition as to what they have done in their career, and that includes Tarik Skubal.
Maddy Dickens|
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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Detroit Tigers

It is always hard to celebrate a game when it ends in a loss for the team, but Detroit starting pitcher Tarik Skubal, who crossed another strikeout milestone off of his list — 900 strikeouts.

The Tigers were facing the Minnesota Twins, who currently sit ahead of Detroit in the division. Skubal did his part to say the least as he had four strikeouts by the end of the second inning and finished his time on the mound with seven.

After striking out Twins catcher Victor Caratini in the fifth inning, Skubal tallied the 905th strikeout of his short career, as he has only pitched four seasons with a minimum of 20 starts. This is easily a generational pitcher that fans are watching and missing any milestone from Skubal just isn't acceptable.

This is a back-to-back Cy Young Award winner who is after his third consecutive in 2026. Right now, he is averaging six strikeouts per start, and it will be anything but shocking if/when that number continues to increase.

Quick Glance at Skubal's Career Thus Far With the Tigers

Tarik SKubal throws a baseball in a black Tigers unifor
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal in the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in a spring training game. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The entirety of his career has been spent in a Tigers uniform, and he has exploded the last two years, as he amassed 228 strikeouts in 2024 and then added another 213 in 2025.

Since making his debut in 2020, Skubal has pitched in 140 games posting an ERA of 3.06, which is skewed from his first two seasons, as his ERA hasn't been over 2.80 since 2022. Skubal has also posted back-to-back-to-back years with a WHIP of 0.92 or less.

Anytime Skubal takes the mound, and the game doesn't result in favor of Detroit, it is a massive problem. This isn't something that continues throughout the year if the Tigers want to make a postseason run, as three starts by Skubal so far have resulted in two losses.

After this four-game stretch against the Twins, the Tigers will return to Comerica Park to face the Miami Marlins and Kansas City Royals. Neither team should be overlooked as Detroit fights its way back to a .500 team.

If a ballclub has one of the best pitchers in history on the roster, with plenty of players to support him, they should be much better than average. This is just the 900-strikeout milestone for Skubal. It won't be long until he crosses 1,000 in their quest to take back the division.

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Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

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.

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