Updated June 19, 2026, 11:20 p.m. ET
Detroit — Tarik Skubal brought the fire, no mistaking that.
He was amped from the start, when struck out all three batters in the first inning around a solo home run by Randal Grichuk. He was amped when Matt Vierling stole a homer from Edgar Quero in the fourth inning. He was amped when Dillon Dingler threw a seed to second base to nab Junior Perez trying to steal.
But his emotions spilled over after he struck out Colton Montgomery with the bases loaded to end a labor-intensive fifth inning. He started yelling toward the White Sox dugout. Injured pitcher Mike Vasil starting jawing back.
Skubal had to be restrained as he stepped into the Tigers’ dugout.
“I’m an emotional guy,” Skubal said after the Tigers’ 4-2 win. “I wear my emotions out there. That’s how I play the game. That’s just baseball, going back and forth. It happens. It’s over with.”
Skubal wouldn’t say who the target of his wrath was, but Vasil told reporters that it was definitely him. He said Skubal thought Vasil was stealing signs.
“We’re fighting tooth and nail for every win we can get,” Skubal said. “Obviously, we put ourselves in this position and we’ve got to fight our way out of it. It was probably the perfect storm for all that stuff to happen and for me to react the way I did.”
Manager AJ Hinch conferred with the umpires between innings and the four umpires also conferred. It didn’t appear that Vasil or anybody else was ejected.
“I didn’t want them to elevate it, based on Tarik going back out for the next inning, ” Hinch said. “I wanted to make sure they knew, there’s going to be a ball inside or a ball up. I didn’t want it to go any further. I let Jordan (Baker, crew chief) know things were under control.”
Skubal, in his second start back after having arthroscopic elbow surgery on May 6, allowed three runs including a pair of solo home runs in 5.2 innings with eight strikeouts.
“We all know what Tarik brings to the table,” Hinch said. “We all know what he did to get back…Our team comes to the ballpark when Tarik is pitching with a ton of confidence that we’re going to win the game. His presence matters to a team and we missed it when he was gone.
“This was a great example of how he set the tone for the night despite (the White Sox) getting some good swings.”
@cmccosky
