Tarik Skubal, Tigers fall to Athletics in extra innings

OAKLAND — Tarik Skubal’s final homecoming to the Oakland Coliseum wasn’t the storybook ending many expected. By the time the Tigers and A’s were done, it was more of a footnote.

The look on Skubal’s face, his head dropped, body hunched over as former Tiger Daz Cameron’s ground ball carried through for a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth, spoke volumes. Skubal threw his final pitch at 99 mph for the second consecutive outing, but it went for a hit.

By the game’s end, several players had a similar look — part frustration, part exhaustion.

A day after the Tigers sent a reminder in San Diego to never count them out, they went deep into Friday night counting runs — one in the 10th, two in the 11th, another in the 12th. Each time, the A’s matched, but didn’t surpass.

The Tigers were not done until Seth Brown’s ground ball for a walk-off single. They were sent to a 7-6 defeat that felt more crushing in 13 innings than it probably would’ve felt in nine.

“That was a crazy game, back and forth,” said Parker Meadows, whose two-run double in the 11th gave the Tigers their largest lead. “Just didn’t come out on top.”

The dramatics came at an added price for Detroit, which dropped to 5 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the final AL Wild Card spot.

At some point, they’ll appreciate the duel they put together in their third-to-last game in the Coliseum, where they’ve had plenty of heroics over the last half-century. But for a team that has prided itself on comeback wins, that appreciation in the moment was a tough ask.

“That was a great game all around,” said catcher Jake Rogers, who caught 186 pitches from eight pitchers. “We kept fighting back. They kept fighting back. It was one of the best games I think we’ve been a part of in a while. We didn’t give up, and they didn’t either. Unfortunately, they scored the timely run. …

“It sucks, a [crappy] loss, but I’m proud of the way we fought back.”

According to OptaStats, the seven different half-innings in which the two teams scored in extras tied the record for a game in the modern era (since 1900). The other was an 8-7 Twins win over the White Sox in 15 innings on Sept. 10, 1974 — 50 years ago next Tuesday.

Skubal, born in nearby Hayward and raised as an A’s fan, returned to the Coliseum one last time as an American League Cy Young favorite. He retired eight in a row after Lawrence Butler’s leadoff infield single. Then the A’s nicked him for eight hits over his final 15 batters and nine total — one off his season high. Just two went for extra bases. Six hits had exit velocities softer than the pitches Skubal threw.

“I got baseballed a little bit, and that’s part of the game,” he said.

Riley Greene got Skubal off the hook for a potential hard-luck loss by doubling and scoring on two Michel Otañez wild pitches in the seventh to draw Detroit even.

The bullpens held for the next couple of innings. Then back and forth they went:

Colt Keith’s 10th-inning RBI single off Mason Miller’s 103 mph fastball — the hardest-thrown pitch for a Tigers hit in the Statcast era (2015-present) — pulled Detroit in front in the 10th, but Brent Rooker doubled home Jacob Wilson in the bottom of the inning.

“Obviously, he’s one of the toughest guys to hit in the league,” manager A.J. Hinch said about Miller. “When we can scratch a run across, you hope we can keep it going.”

Meadows, whose two-out, two-strike grand slam in the ninth inning powered the Tigers to a comeback win in San Diego Thursday night, won a lefty-lefty matchup with Scott Alexander for his double to put Detroit up again, but Brown’s pinch-hit two-run homer off a Shelby Miller slider evened the score.

Greene put the Tigers back in front in the 12th, but the A’s loaded the bases with nobody out off Beau Brieske to set up Rooker’s sac fly.

Holman’s bases-loaded strikeout of Meadows in the 13th marked the first scoreless inning in extras. Brieske tried to do the same, fanning Tristan Gray for the first out with Bleday on second, but Brown’s well-placed ground ball ended it.

“We’re in there fighting; we’ve done it all year,” Meadows said. “We’re confident. But it’s just one of those games. I had opportunities, like that last at-bat. But it’s part of it. We’ll go in tomorrow with the same mindset.”