On a different night, Tarik Skubal might have been happy to acknowledge his achievement. Because it came in a loss, in one of Skubal's worst outings of the season at the end of his best month of the year, all he could do was shrug at the fact that he broke the Tigers rookie record Tuesday night for most strikeouts in a season.
"That’s cool, but I don’t play this game for records," he said. "I play this game to win, and today I didn’t do a good job of putting my team in a position to win. So that’s where I’m at mentally right now."
Skubal's third strikeout of the game gave him 147 on the year, eclipsing Spencer Turnbull's total in 2019 -- and Skubal did it in about 20 fewer innings. (Justin Verlander had 124 when he won Rookie of the Year in 2006.) He finished the night with six strikeouts, but he also gave up six runs, including two homers, in a 9-3 loss to the Athletics.
It was Skubal's first time allowing six runs since his second start of the season, and his first time allowing more than two runs in five starts this month. He entered the game with a 1.59 ERA in August. He was fighting his fastball command all night, and Mark Canha delivered the back-breaker with a two-out, two-run bomb in the fifth.
"Just an overall frustrating outing," Skubal said. "The way I competed, I’m not proud of that."
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But he's had plenty to be proud of this season. Skubal is now tied for first among rookies with 150 strikeouts, and he ranks fifth in the AL overall with 10.15 K/9. The all-time rookie record for strikeouts is 276, set by Doc Gooden in 1984. Skubal obviously won't catch that -- who ever will? -- but he could still chase down fellow lefty CC Sabathia, who struck out 171 as rookie in 2001.
"I feel good," Skubal said. "I really like where I’m at physically. I’m ready to push and see what’s left in the tank this last month of baseball."
