"It was a great experience for him. We thought about four innings, hopefully somewhere around that, and we looked at the pitch count after two and said, 'OK, that’s about going to do it,'" Gardenhire said with a chuckle. "He was tired, I could tell. He was really sweating. He had to work pretty hard through those first couple innings.
"So that’s a starting point and we’ll go from there."
Skubal was knocked around by the hot-hitting White Sox, surrendering four runs on seven hits over two innings. Still, there were plenty of positives to take away from his much-anticipated debut. Here are three things we liked.
The first batter Skubal faced in the big leagues took him deep. The next two roped singles. But instead of unraveling, Skubal composed himself after a visit from pitching coach Rick Anderson and got Eloy Jimenez to ground into a double play and escaped the inning without further damage. He was looking for a ground ball and got the one he wanted.
"When Andy came out and had the little meeting, he was like, 'Hey, now you can get yourself a double play.' So that was the goal that at-bat," Skubal said.
Veteran catcher Austin Romine said it revealed Skubal's mental toughness.
"He could have let that really spiral, and he didn’t. I think that speaks volumes to where his mental state is and how he approaches the game," said Romine. "I talked to him before the game and like I said, he’s got a good head on his shoulders."
Look, the Tigers didn't do Skubal any favors by running him out there against the White Sox, a powerful righty-heavy lineup in a hitter-friendly ballpark. And he'll have his hands full again Sunday in Cleveland. But in the long run, this is for the best. Skubal is learning from the jump what it takes to get good hitters out.
"He’ll learn something from every start," Gardenhire said. "We’re facing a lot of really good hitting teams right now, so he’s gonna have to go through it. I trust this kid. He’s got a great arm. You see some of the pitches he was making were really, really dominating, but they got after him pretty good."
One lesson Skubal learned Tuesday?
"If you execute a pitch to Tim Anderson," said Romine, "he can still hit it."
(Who knew.)
This was in regard to the 0-2 slider that Anderson laced for an RBI double in the second inning. It wasn't a poor pitch from Romine's perspective, a hard-biting breaking ball moving down and in, but Skubal scolded himself for not making it better. You have to like that, too.
“0-2, I’ve got to be better. Gotta get the ball down and in, out of the zone," he said. "I shouldn’t be throwing a strike right there. Obviously that’s not what I wanted to do, but that’s what happened. That’s one of the pitches I wish I could have back, because I had myself in a good count, an uncomfortable count for hitters, and just didn't execute a pitch."
The Tigers were right to yank Skubal when they did. He was already over his 50-pitch target, and he's been back on the mound for less than a month after missing summer camp due to COVID-19.
But if Gardenhire thought Skubal looked tired, the 23-year-old didn't feel it. At the mere mention of fatigue in his post-game interview, Skubal furrowed his brow and shook his head. He would have kept going, had the Tigers let him.
"I feel good, I feel fine now. I feel strong, I felt strong out there. I didn't really get tired, so I don't think (fatigue was a factor)," he said.
"He knows what he wants to do," said Romine. "He knows how he wants to attack. Maybe he didn’t feel like himself today, but that goes with the whole debut thing. I saw some good stuff out there. He’s got a really good arm from the left side, has a great changeup, throws hard. We’re excited for the next one for him."