Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal silenced the crowd at Cleveland’s Progressive Field in more ways than one in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
Skubal tossed seven shutout innings in the Tigers’ 3-0 shutout victory over the Guardians. Saturday, he’ll get the ball in Cleveland again, this time with the series on the line. Detroit and Cleveland are tied 2-2 in the best-of-five series.
The occasion prompted an interesting back-and-forth between Skubal and reporters Friday.
The topic: a viral clip of Skubal silencing the Game 2 crowd — literally — with apparently foul language. The popular Twitter/X account @PitchingNinja captioned it simply, “STFU.”
Among the lip-readers who saw the clip: Skubal’s mother, Laura. Her well-circulated response read, “Tarik Daniel!!”
Reading Laura Skubal’s words, practically anyone can hear a mother intoning her child’s middle name in a scolding voice.
Friday, her post became the topic of discussion, and Tarik Daniel Skubal got to have his say.
“Yeah, that’s interesting that my mom went to Twitter to say that because you should hear my mom when she was growing up,” he said. “I think that’s interesting, yeah, that she wants to make that comment. I’ve seen her get ejected out of plenty of high school basketball games. So I guess it might run in the family a little bit there.”
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Skubal might well get the last laugh. Even though they finished behind Cleveland in the AL Central standings, the Tigers are considered the odds-on favorites to win Game 5 on Saturday.
The obvious reason is Skubal, who hasn’t allowed a run in either of his first two postseason starts this month, a span of 13 innings. He put himself in position to win the American League Cy Young Award by going 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 192 innings during the regular season.
The Guardians will counter with Matthew Boyd, a 33-year-old left-hander who’s spent the majority of his 10-year big league career in Detroit. In his first season in Cleveland, Boyd made only eight starts (plus another five in the minors) after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow in June 2023.
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It’s a fascinating matchup with the season on the line for both teams. If Skubal winds up hurling a few more celebratory expletives toward the stands, it will be a good day for fans of the Tigers — one Skubal’s mom will have to live with.
