Tigers Star Tarik Skubal Had Another Career-Best Even When 'Fighting' Himself

The Detroit Tigers needed a response after their 10-1 loss on Wednesday night.

Thankfully, they had their superstar ace Tarik Skubal on the bump for the rubber match against the Baltimore Orioles.

If one were to just look at the box score, it would appear like everything was business as usual for the reigning AL Cy Young winner since he threw seven scoreless innings where he gave up just three hits and had six strikeouts.

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However, that was not the case.

This was his first multi-walk outing since April 2, signaling something was a bit off.

After the game, Skubal admitted as much, stating, "I was kind of fighting myself a little bit early," per Jason Beck of MLB.com.

But, like the star so often does, he figures out a way to be effective and dominate, going away from his four-seam fastball in favor of using his sinker, something that resulted in a career-high 12 ground-ball outs, according to Beck.

That ability is what makes Skubal so great.

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Despite not having a major weapon in his arsenal, he was able to shutdown a lineup that is full of star players in their own right.

"As the game wore on, I felt like I got better. That's probably what I'm the most proud of. If you look back at my games, sometimes you're on from pitch one, and sometimes it takes a little bit. I'm probably more proud of grinding it out in those types of performances than when you're on early," Skubal added after his start.

It's been well-documented that the left-hander has better underlying metrics this season compared to last year when he won the American League Triple Crown on his way to taking home the AL Cy Young Award.

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That is a scary thought for the rest of Major League Baseball.

But if he can turn in these types of performances when he doesn't have his best stuff, then that makes the Tigers superstar virtually impossible to beat.

For more Tigers news, head over to Tigers On SI.