DETROIT – Detroit Tigers fans had plenty of reason to celebrate if they went down to Comerica Park on the Fourth of July.
Tarik Skubal, the organization’s most promising young pitcher, dazzled in his season debut. A full eleven months after his last appearance for the Tigers, Skubal fired four hitless innings, retiring 12 of the 13 batters he faced. The only blemish was a slider that brushed the foot of an Oakland batter.
Skubal struck out six, reached 98 mph six times, and generated nine whiffs on 57 pitches (15.8%). It was better than anyone could have hoped.
Then, rookie Reese Olson took over and shut down the Athletics for five more innings, allowing just one single and one walk while striking out five. He was nearly as good as Skubal, and that’s saying something.
But all those positives were wiped out by the overwhelmingly disappointing result, as the Tigers failed to scratch across a single run in 10 innings. They became the first team to be shut out by the A’s this season -- other teams avoided it 86 times, and the Tigers couldn’t do it once.
This year’s Oakland team is trending toward being one of the worst in the history of Major League Baseball. Going into this series against the Tigers, the Athletics were on pace to finish 43-119, which is only one fewer loss than the record set by the 1960 New York Mets (40-120).
While we’re talking history, let’s put last night’s loss in perspective. According to Max Mannis of Jomboy Media, the A’s are just the second team in the recorded history of baseball to have two hits, no extra-base hits, one walk, and 12 strikeouts ... but still win the game.
The only other team to do that was the 2007 Cincinnati Reds, who finished 72-90. That’s bad, but it’s nowhere near where this Oakland team is heading.
Detroit has been gifted a chance to contend for an awful division, and now that the team is finally getting healthy, there seemed to be a little bit of hope.
Tuesday’s loss was just the latest crushing blow for fans, who deserve much better than the product Chris Ilitch has put on the field.
Nobody really expects the Tigers to win the division, but it would be nice to have a glimmer of hope heading into the All-Star break. Getting shut out at home by the 23-63 A’s certainly doesn’t cut it.
