Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal shows 'he's crazy' vs Orioles in final spring training start
The Detroit Tigers won 9-1 against the Baltimore Orioles in a split-squad game Friday evening at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida. (In the other split-squad game, the Tigers lost 4-0 against the New York Yankees at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland.)
Detroit is 12-12 in Grapefruit League play.
What happened
Left-hander Tarik Skubal — Thursday's scheduled Opening Day starter — could've stayed in TigerTown for his final start of spring training, but he requested to travel nearly 100 miles because he wanted to face the best hitters in the Orioles' lineup.
"He's crazy," manager A.J. Hinch said.
The Orioles started several everyday players against Skubal: Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman, Tyler O'Neill, Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullens.
"I mean, I've been to Sarasota three times," Hinch continued. "It's a great place, but I'm done with road trips. The next trip I'm taking will be the one where we're leaving, so it's a one-stop through Clearwater. But I think he does relish the competition and wants to see the A-lineup."
Skubal allowed one run on three hits and zero walks with nine strikeouts across six innings. He surrendered a solo home run to Gary Sánchez in the fifth inning, but he bounced back by retiring the next three batters to complete the inning.
The other two hits: Westburg's single in the fourth and Rutschman's double in the sixth.
"It looks like a lineup he would face if we were in Baltimore or Detroit, and I know he loves that to give him a little bit of an edge for his last outing before Opening Day," Hinch said before Friday's split-squad games. "He told me he wants to travel every start. I'm going to talk him off that ledge by the time we get back next season to maybe give him a few miles off."
Starting off
Skubal — the reigning American League Cy Young winner — finished with one walk and 24 strikeouts over 19⅓ innings in five starts in spring training, registering a 2.33 ERA.
Facing the Orioles, the 28-year-old registered nine strikeouts against these hitters: Mountcastle (twice), Ramón Urias (twice), Jorge Mateo (twice), Sánchez, Westburg and Rutschman.
The next start for Skubal?
It's scheduled for Opening Day on Thursday against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
At the plate
The Tigers kept their top right-handed hitters (plus everyday left-handed hitters Riley Greene and Colt Keith) in Lakeland to face Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón, simulating what would happen in the regular season. Meanwhile, the Tigers sent platoon left-handed hitters Zach McKinstry, Trey Sweeney and Kerry Carpenter to Sarasota for a matchup with Orioles right-hander Albert Suárez.
But Josue Briceño stole the show, even though he hasn't played above Low-A Lakeland. The 20-year-old — a left-handed hitting first baseman who started at designated hitter — is a contact-first hitter with extra-base power. He ranks as the No. 94 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline.
Briceño hit a solo home run off Suárez to right field in the second inning.
The MLB players showed up in the third inning with an RBI single from Sweeney and a sacrifice fly from Jake Rogers, taking a 3-0 lead. In the fourth, Bligh Madris provided an RBI single and Ryan Kreidler hit a two-run home run, making it 6-0.
Suárez gave up six runs.
In the sixth inning, McKinstry hit a solo home run off right-handed reliever Félix Bautista for a 9-1 advantage.
On the mound
After Skubal's start, the Tigers turned to right-handed relievers Jason Foley, Beau Brieske and left-handed reliever Brant Hurter for the final three innings.
All three relievers faced backup players from the Orioles.
The Orioles didn't score against them.
Foley worked around a pair of singles with two strikeouts and a flyout, while Brieske worked around a two-out walk. In the ninth, Hurter retired all three batters he faced.
Three stars
1. Skubal; 2. McKinstry; 3. Briceño.
Next up: Braves
Saturday )1:05 p.m., no TV) vs. Atlanta in Lakeland.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal shows 'he's crazy' in spring finale
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