Arlington, Texas – It’s not something you see every day, for sure.
Catcher Jake Rogers went out to the mound in the fourth inning. His pitcher, lefty Tarik Skubal, called time out and was rubbing his eye.
“I didn’t see anything,” Rogers shrugged. And then, right in the middle of the diamond, he gave Skubal a playful slap on the face.
“Yeah, gave him a little love tap,” Rogers said, laughing. “I told him I was going to take every opportunity to slap Skub on live television.”
Skubal, in the midst of a six-inning grind, could only laugh.
“He’s a beauty,” Skubal said.
He certainly was Monday night.
Jake Rogers, a proud Texan, swatted a pair of home runs, both bullets into the left-field seats, to help the Tigers beat the Texas Rangers 2-1 in the first of three at Globe Life Field.
“I don’t know if my family would let me back in the state if I didn’t leave Texas with at least one homer,” Rogers said.
Rogers, who grew up about six hours away in Canyon, Texas, hit the first one off Rangers’ starter Nathan Eovaldi with two outs in the third. He hit a hanging curveball 379 feet. The second one, a no-doubter, came with two outs in the eighth off right-hander Jose Leclerc and it broke a 1-1 tie.
That one, off a hanging cutter, left Rogers’ bat at 106 mph and flew 390 feet. They were his third and fourth homers of the season.
“I’ve been working hard, just trying to get the ball hard in the air again,” said Rogers, who is hitting .307 with a .770 OPS and three homers in his last 21 games. “I was hitting it on the ground too much. The work’s been paying off. I’ve stayed calm about it, coming to the field every day knowing the hits will come. This was a good day.”
He had a great day behind the plate, too, both in calling pitches and stealing strikes with expert framing for Skubal and right-hander Beau Brieske, who closed out the game in old-school fireman’s fashion, working the final three innings.
“It’s not just framing and receiving,” Skubal said. “It’s the visuals he gives you and the body language that I don’t think you can even pick up on camera. It’s the whole package back there. He gives me a ton of confidence when I am throwing.”
The game featured a marvelous pitching duel between Eovaldi, the two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champ, and Skubal.
Rogers’ homer was one of just three hits off Eovaldi, who struck out seven in 5.2 innings in his second start back after missing a month with a groin injury.
“We had a hard time with their guy,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Eovaldi looks like he’s picking up right where he’s always left off. He’s very hard to hit.”
Skubal gave up one run in his six innings, but it was by no means a breeze.
“I’m tired,” said Skubal, who threw 96 pitches. “That was an exhausting outing. They made me earn everything. They worked counts, put balls in play. That’s a good team. They won the World Series last year for a reason.”
Marcus Semien led off the first inning, lining a 1-2 changeup into the left-field seats.
“Did you see the pitch,” Skubal said.
It hung in the heart of the plate.
But Skubal stayed stubborn with his changeup, even after Semien and Corey Seager both singled off the pitch with one out in the third. Skubal went right back to it against former Tiger Robbie Grossman and got an inning-ending double-play.
Semien came back up in the fifth and with the count 2-2, Skubal threw back-to-back changeups. Both were outside the strike zone, but maybe Skubal sensed Semien was sitting on the pitch and thought he could get him to chase.
“I think my ego got in the way there,” Skubal said. “But it’s my best pitch and I’m going to go to my best pitch when I need it.”
Rogers wasn’t going to let him go away from it.
“It’s always going to be a good pitch for him,” Rogers said. “Semien was seeing that pitch and Skub left it up. Semien did what he was supposed to do (on the home run). But we were never going to go away from it. We were going to pitch off that pitch and use the heater and use that back-and-forth method we’ve used to keep timing off.”
Skubal ended up throwing 25 changeups, getting six whiffs on 12 swings with three called strikes, including a big one in the sixth inning, punching out rookie Wyatt Langford, who had singled and tripled off Skubal earlier, with two runners on and nobody out.
“It’s always who is going to adjust first,” Hinch said. “As a catcher, you have no idea if they’re going to go back to sitting fastball and trying to get the bat head out. Then you regret avoiding the off-speed. It’s a continual chess match behind the plate, especially with pitchers the caliber of Tarik and hitters the caliber of Semien and Seager.”
Skubal turned the game over to Brieske in the seventh and he got the final nine outs.
“To be able to start this series off with this kind of victory and what Beau did was nothing short of incredible,” Skubal said.
Brieske struck out the side in the seventh – getting Leody Taveras, Semien and Seager all taking called third strikes. His four-seam fastball was sitting at 96.7 mph, his sinker at 96, his changeup at 90 and his slider at 88.
“We had a pretty good idea who we had available and who we didn’t,” said Hinch, referencing a taxed bullpen. “We went to Beau first because they have a ton of left-handed hitters and Beau’s changeup is good and his velo is good and he was fresh.
“And I loved how he was pitching. It was a tremendous job by both Skubal and especially Beau, given that type of ending doesn’t happen very often nowadays.”
Rogers and the gritty pitching made a success of the Major League debut of Justyn-Henry Malloy.
“Honestly, everything off the field felt like it was moving a lot faster than the game,” he said. “The game was fun. Being here was fun. It was a dream come true for my inner self and my adult self, too. It was just an overall incredible day. I couldn’t be happier.”
You know what they called Malloy in Toledo, right? ABS. For automated ball-strike, a robo ump, because he has such a keen eye at the plate.
He had a .410 on-base percentage at Triple-A Toledo before he was called up on Monday. He is selective. Works counts. Not afraid to get to two strikes.
So, what does he do in his first Major League at-bat? He ambushes a first-pitch fastball from Nathan Eovaldi and sends it 378 feet, caught on the warning track in right-center. Go figure.
“That was me internally telling myself, don’t be scared,” he said. “I was really trying to force myself to not sit in the moment and watch it, but be involved in it. Go play baseball. And getting that swing off was like, OK, I’m in the game now.”
Malloy ended up hitless in his debut, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. He will DH Tuesday and Wednesday, as well.
“He’s going to settle in and enjoy this a lot,” Hinch said.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky