PHOENIX -- A good portion of Kingman, Ariz., showed up for local hero Tarik Skubal’s homecoming. So did Diamondbacks star Corbin Carroll, and he wasn’t nearly as hospitable.
As Skubal’s 0-2 fastball came screaming towards the top rail of the strike zone at 97 miles per hour, the back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner wasn’t thinking it was a mistake. He could not have envisioned Carroll, a Tiger tormenter all series, not only connecting with it, but sending it out on a line to right field.
“Great pitch,” Skubal said. “I thought I executed it great. If you told me an 0-2 heater, I'm going to execute it there 10 more times, I'm going to do it 10 more times. That's just one of those things. He's a really good hitter, too, and he put a good swing on it.”
He surely couldn’t have imagined that first-inning solo homer being the lone run of Wednesday afternoon, a 1-0 loss that sent the Tigers home with a three-game series sweep and a four-game losing streak.
It put Skubal in a twist of conflicting emotions as he prepared to head back to Detroit for the Tigers’ first homestand, a three-game series against the Cardinals that will not include a start from him. He’s a results-oriented pitcher, and pitching well in defeat gives him little solace.
Skubal’s 136th Major League start was his 63rd allowing one run or less, and 27th allowing exactly one run. It’s the first time he allowed one run and took the loss.
“I think the goal of every game that I'm pitching, I want to win,” he said. “It doesn't really matter how it happens. Individually, fine, but it's a team game and we need a win. It doesn't really matter how I felt, because it comes in a loss.”
At the same time, Skubal pitched well in front of a group of people who mean a lot in his life. Kingman, a town of about 35,000 located a few hours north, is where his baseball career began to blossom. He makes his offseason home closer to Phoenix now, but he returned to Kingman just before Spring Training to talk with kids at his old school, and he gives back to youth baseball there.
Making his second career start at Chase Field, he had more family, friends and neighbors than he could fit into the Tigers’ family section, so they took up a section of the right-field seats. Fans lined two deep around the right-field bullpen to watch Skubal warm up before the game.
“I like to enjoy the environment and show that I care about the people that support me,” he said. “It's really cool whenever I get to come back here and make a start.”
In that sense, Skubal delivered, doing so in a ballpark where he remembers attending games as a kid in the upper deck, tucked just a few rows below the roof.
“There's some nostalgia, I guess,” he said, “but also, I get to perform in front of my family. I don't get to see them as much as obviously I'd like to, and that's just part of the gig, right? But it's just more performing in front of my family and understanding that I'm not around a ton, so I want to put on a good performance.”
This was a different performance for him, not the high-strikeout, overpowering Skubal that fans in Detroit have come to expect. Credit a Diamondbacks lineup that is built around contact. Skubal used that to his advantage, inducing 10 ground-ball outs and erasing leadoff baserunners on double plays in three of his first six innings. All three began with rookie third baseman Kevin McGonigle.
Skubal needed just 87 pitches to cover seven innings, allowing six hits and no walks. His three strikeouts were a relatively low total for a deep start, as were his seven whiffs, including four whiffs on 14 swings against his slider.
“I’m not sure it wasn’t the usual Tarik,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “This is a high-contact team and they put together really good at-bats and spoil some pitches. I think he got stronger as the game went on, that's for sure.”
All of it made Skubal’s one fatal pitch all the more frustrating. He gave up six balls in play at 101 miles per hour or harder, but Carroll’s drive was the only one with a launch angle higher than 15 degrees.
Skubal allowed only one home run to a left-handed hitter last season; that came from former Twin Edouard Julien last Aug. 14. Skubal didn’t allow a homer off of an 0-2 pitch all season until his final regular-season start in Cleveland, where Jhonkensy Noel got him. Skubal’s first homer allowed in 2026 fit both categories.
“Sometimes you have to tip your cap,” said Skubal.