DETROIT -- The audience here at Sox Machine probably wouldn't regard it as a shame, but Tarik Skubal's days in Detroit could be limited, right when his relationship with the White Sox seems to be getting interesting.
Ultimately a showdown between a guy who has won the AL ERA title twice and Brandon Eisert opening for Erick Fedde became a low-scoring game swung by a Kerry Carpenter two-run double off the latter. But the efforts to shield Fedde from the left-handed slugger ran into just as many problems as the genuine article, while Skubal departed an out shy of a quality start, with an ERA over 3.00, and his performance that will primarily be remembered for him yelling at a man in a wizard hat.
"He's one of the best in the game, we want to beat him," Fedde said. "That's obviously something we want to do no matter who it is. If they want to light a fire under us, so be it. But we went out there and played hard today."
Sox hitters hunting Skubal's changeup of all pitches produced go-ahead pull-side solo shots in the first inning from an expected source in Randal Grichuk, and a shocking one in Junior Pérez to put the Sox up 3-2 in the sixth, with the latter two innings after he had collected his first big league hit.
"I don’t have words to describe that," Pérez said via interpreter. "Getting my first hit and my first homer against a pitcher like him, it’s incredible."
Yet a laborious 26-pitch fifth where a Tristan Peters game-tying RBI fielder's choice was the only tally provided the real fireworks. Peters grounder was the only interruption in singles from Sam Antonacci, Luisangel Acuña and Miguel Vargas to open the inning, before Grichuk worked Skubal's first three-ball count of the night, and eventually his first walk to load the bases with one out.
After Chase Meidroth chopped a high changeup into a forceout at the plate, something better resembling the two-time Cy Young award winner returned. Skubal both struck out Colson Montgomery for the third time on the night to end the threat, and also immediately began pointing and screaming at the White Sox dugout, with Mike Vasil's wand-waving, wizarding ways apparently drawing his ire. Or, a suspicion that Vasil was up to something more overtly strategic won the day.
"Every thing that Mike does, every thing that we do on our bench is inward, it's above board," said Will Venable. "My guess is there's some thought there's some sign stealing or something potentially."
"I was up there on the top step and helping the team out, cheering them on," Vasil said. "Next thing I know, I’m getting reamed out. I think it was some pretty choice words [said to me], and then I shared back some choice words. It was good stuff.
"I’ve always said I’m going to help the team and do everything I can to do it," Vasil continued. "I’m going to be with the guy in the box. We’ve seen far worse things in the game. If we are going to be that paranoid about it, it’s just part of the game."
If Antonacci hanging over the top rail of the dugout and yelling, or Vasil's celebration after Pérez's homer was any indication, the Sox remained defiant.
"It was a pretty good chain of events there," Vasil said of Pérez homering off Skubal the following inning. "I don’t know if he was trying to fire up their side. Seemed pretty targeted to me. I’m just a guy."
"We had two umpires come over talking to us and no one talking to their side, when it was their guy on the mound that was yelling and causing a scene," Venable said. "Mike is a big part of this group and really just out there supporting his guys."
Speaking of defiance, Sox leadership have more conviction in their opener strategy than single-game results, or even Eisert's ERA spiking to 5.50 will sway them out of, but they're certainly seeing lineups that are countering it. With Carpenter shifted down to sixth, Eisert had already allowed a single to the right-handed Dillon Dingler and seen the right-handed Matt Vierling blast a down-and-in heater out to center for a two-run shot that staked Skubal to an early 2-1 lead in the first, even if he did strike out lefties Kevin McGonigle and Riley Greene on his way there.
In the irony of ironies, Carpenter would still be the one to mar Fedde's final line, one out shy of completing five innings of scoreless, sweeper-heavy work. Already leaking oil while protecting a one-run lead in the sixth, Fedde was alternating outs with baserunners. A Dingler single was followed by a Vierling fly out, a Greene walk followed by Spencer Torkelson popping up a meaty looking sweeper to set up the bogeyman the Sox usually avoid facing with right-handers if they can swing it.
To that point, Fedde got Carpenter to pop up a cutter well above the zone into short center. But Peters was shaded like one of the preeminent power threats in the division was at the plate, and his effort to bridge the gap hurt more than it helped. Both runners scored as Peters' dive ended well short of heroism, and Grichuk's two-out automatic double in the seventh was the last Sox runner in scoring position.
"I felt like I made the pitch I wanted to, to Carpenter," Fedde said. "Had a good piece of hitting and unfortunately gave up the lead. That's sometimes part of baseball. Felt really committed to that pitch, thought I threw it with a lot of confidence and dumped it in there."
Bullet points:
*The Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The Tigers went 1-for-6, and it really counted.
*Edgar Quero drilled a middle-middle Skubal changeup 415 feet to dead center for his (Statcast estimated) farthest hit ball of the season. Vierling corralled it with a leaping catch at the wall. He looked as frustrated as that sentence read. His threat-annihilating GIDP in the eighth was decently struck as well.
*Pérez lined a 98 mph Skubal fastball to right for his first major league hit with two outs in the top of the fourth. He was thrown out trying to steal second base on the next pitch to end the inning. That was also a major league first, but he topped them both later.
*Vargas started a pair of beautiful 3-6-3 double plays in the seventh and eighth, for all the first base defense lovers out there.
*Sean Newcomb will open on Saturday.
