Seattle Mariners Have Had Surprising Success Against Ace Tarik Skubal

Skubal has been arguably the best and most consistent starting pitcher in baseball the last two seasons, and the Mariners have been a thorn in his side (by Skubal's standards).

Skubal entered his start Friday with a 10-2 record on the season. His last loss was a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Seattle on April 2. The Mariners starting pitcher for that game, Luis Castillo, also started Friday.

Though two starts against Seattle this season, Skubal is 0-2. He's struck out 13 batters, but has allowed seven earned runs on 10 hits (two home runs) in 10.2 innings pitched.

Skubal, who ironically played college ball at Seattle University, has made five starts against the Mariners since making his major league debut in 2020. He has a 3.77 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 28.2 innings pitched. He has a 3-2 record in those five starts. He's allowed at least one earned run in every start against the M's.

Those numbers aren't bad by any stretch, but his ERA against Seattle through those starts is worse than his career average (3.17).

Calling Seattle Skubal's kryptonite would be a stretch, but the Mariners have managed to find a way to navigate the southpaw in their most recent starts against him.

Seattle and Detroit will play Game 2 of the three-game series at 10:10 a.m. PT on Saturday. It will be the last regular season series played between the two teams this year.

The Mariners are 49-45 and 0.5 games back of the third wild card spot.