Just in case the Detroit Tigers needed further clarity on what to do with Tarik Skubal, his teammates determined his fate Wednesday in an excruciating loss that was a microcosm of their season.
The Tigers led 7-0 entering the seventh inning and blew it.
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It not only resulted in a 10-9, 12-inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles, but left the Tigers no choice but to trade the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
It leaves the Tigers five days to find the best trade partner for Skubal before the Aug. 3 deadline.
It will be a painful move, but a necessary one.
The way the Tigers’ front office views it, if they can lose with Skubal, they can certainly lose without him.
The Tigers find themselves with a 51-58 record, 5½ games out of first place in the AL Central, 4 games back in the AL wild card race, and going nowhere.
The Tigers are done. They know it. Their rivals know it. And Skubal knows it.
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“I don’t even know the final score,” Skubal told reporters in front of his locker, “but to end up losing that. It’s tough for sure. That one hurts.”
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch didn’t want to address the inevitable, unable to come up with the right word to describe his emotions after the painful defeat − the 11th time this season the Tigers blew a lead when leading after seven innings.
And he refused to even talk about his feelings watching Skubal for presumably the final time in a Tigers’ uniform, recording his 1,000th strikeout in the quickest time − 857 innings − in franchise history.
“I just can’t think in hypotheticals,” Hinch said. “I really can’t. I’ll have the time to say when, and if, and where, and whatever, but I just think it’s a waste of my time to talk in hypotheticals.”
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Skubal, who gave up three runs on four hits with six strikeouts in 6⅔ innings, wasn’t ready to clean out his locker and hug everyone goodbye, but he certainly understood the ramifications of the loss.
“I don’t even really want to speculate, to be honest,” Skubal said. “I try to live where I’m at right now, you know? And right now, I’m a Detroit Tiger. I don’t really want to speculate a ton on what’s happening or what the future holds because I don’t know.
“I mean, I understand the questions. I understand what could happen or what could change a week from now. But don’t really like thinking like that. It’s a tough place to be.”
The biggest question now at the trade deadline is just who wins the Skubal sweepstakes.
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Who has $9.6 million sitting around to pay off the rest of his $32 million contract, and most important, who has the prospects to get it done?
The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have no idea whether Shohei Ohtani will pitch again this season with his left knee inflammation and right biceps discomfort, are the favorites. They could sit back and rely on Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki and hope that Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow return to form after coming off the IL, and All-Star Justin Wrobleski will still be fresh after already pitching a career-high 112⅔ innings.
Or the Dodgers could grab Skubal, knowing that they are considered his first preference, anyway, when he becomes a free agent. That would not only give them a lethal October rotation, but keep him away from the competition.
The Dodgers have nightmares envisioning Skubal paired with strikeout sensation Jacob Misiorowski in Milwaukee. They know Skubal could be the missing piece for the Chicago Cubs. And the Tampa Bay Rays would be awfully dangerous with Skubal leading their rotation.
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So why not give up a starting pitcher, a couple of prized outfield prospects, and laugh all the way to the ring ceremony with everyone else seething about their three-peat?
Is Skubal counting the days himself until the drama finally ends?
“No, I got to play baseball,” he said. “I think you guys are craving it (ending) more than me. … When it’s my day to toe the mound, I’m going to give it everything I got, and go out and compete. That’s all I can really control.
“The noise outside of that is exactly what it is, which is just noise. I can’t let it impact what I’m trying to do on the mound.”
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Skubal, drafted in the ninth round by the Tigers in 2018 and developed into one of the greatest left-handed pitchers in franchise history, winning two Cy Young awards, didn’t want to get sentimental. Yet, he knows he most likely walked off the Tigers’ mound for the final time.
He will cherish all of the memories another time, but at least for a day, after striking out his 1,000th batter in the first inning, he was able to step off the mound, soak in the ovation, and applaud the fans right back.
“I just want to live in the moment,” he said. “You know, there’s a lot of stuff going on around me that I have no control in. I try to be pretty present all the time, and when the fans get on their feet like that, and give you a pretty good ovation, it’s special. It’ll never not be special, and it’s something I’ve always appreciated. Hopefully, they feel the same way.
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“Hopefully they feel like I’ve given everything to the team, to the city, because I truly have.”
The Tigers packed their suitcases and hit the road after the game. They’ll spend the next 10 days in Sacramento, Seattle and San Francisco. They don’t play another game at Comerica Park until Aug. 11 − eight days after the trade deadline.
When the Tigers return to town, Skubal most likely won’t be accompanying them. The next time Tigers’ fans will see Skubal again, he’ll be wearing a different uniform.
This was a season that held such promise, the Tigers bubbling with talent and a franchise-record payroll, but it unofficially ended Wednesday with their latest bullpen meltdown.
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This time, it not only cost them a game.
It cost them Skubal.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tigers must trade Tarik Skubal after gut-punch loss. They have no choice | Opinion
