What Scott Harris learned from Theo Epstein to improve Detroit Tigers
The “Days of Roar” podcast talks with ESPN’s Jesse Rogers about what lessons Scott Harris gained from Theo Epstein to mold the Detroit Tigers.
- The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1, on Thursday, June 12.
- Tarik Skubal threw seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out six to lower his ERA to 1.99.
- Dillon Dingler and Parker Meadows provided the runs for the Tigers, with homers in the fourth inning.
BALTIMORE — Tarik Skubal now has a 1.99 ERA in 14 starts.
His ERA continued to plunge when the ace of the Detroit Tigers — and the reigning American League Cy Young winner — completed seven scoreless innings Thursday, June 12, against the Baltimore Orioles in the finale of a three-game series at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The Tigers won, 4-1.
The win also gave the Tigers (45-25) a series win over the Orioles, getting to 20 games above .500 for the second time this season. They haven’t lost a series since May 22-25 against the Cleveland Guardians.
Skubal allowed just three hits across seven scoreless innings, but he walked two batters, generated a below-average 23.3% whiff rate and averaged 96.4 mph with his sinker, down 1.2 mph from his season average. He had multiple walks for the first time since April 2.
But Skubal still dominated.
The 28-year-old has thrown at least seven innings in four consecutive starts.
He tossed a season-high 98 pitches against the Orioles.
To complete his start, Skubal struck out Coby Mayo swinging with a 98 mph sinker. After the strikeout, he unleashed a scream in celebration and walked off the mound.
Skubal owns a 0.29 ERA with two walks (both against the Orioles) and 32 strikeouts across 30⅔ innings in his last four starts, while being responsible for just one earned run. Thursday’s start brought Skubal to 101 strikeouts and just five walks over his past 12 outings. He’s just the second pitcher in MLB history with at least 100 walks and five or fewer walks in a 12-start span, after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw did it three overlapping times during the 2016 season.
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Dillon Dingler, Parker Meadows hit home runs
The Tigers scored four runs against the Orioles, all in the fourth inning.
Dillon Dingler opened the scoring by hitting a middle-middle cutter off right-hander Dean Kremer for a solo home run — putting the Tigers ahead, 1-0. After singles from Zach McKinstry and Javier Báez, Parker Meadows delivered his first big swing of the 2025 season.
Meadows, who missed the first 60 games of 2025 while recovering from an injury, pulled Kremer’s elevated fastball for a three-run home run to right-center field, snapping an 0-for-12 stretch and extending the Tigers’ lead to 4-0.
Meadows is hitting .171 with a .618 OPS in 10 games.
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Will Vest gets 12th save
The Orioles scored just one run.
With no outs in the eighth inning, Dylan Carlson hit a solo home run off right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle’s fastball, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 4-1.
But the Orioles didn’t score again.
Right-handed reliever Will Vest slammed the door in the ninth inning, grabbing his 12th save in 14 opportunities.
Tigers schedule change
Earlier Thursday, ESPN announced that it was flexing the Tigers’ afternoon game against the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park on Sunday, June 29, into the “Sunday Night Baseball” slot that night. The Twins entered Thursday trailing the AL Central-leading Tigers by seven games, then lost to the Texas Rangers to make it an eight-game gap between the first- and second-place teams in the division. The Twins enter Friday tied for the second and third wild-card spots in the AL.
It’s the Tigers’ first “Sunday Night Baseball” appearance at Comerica Park since May 2017. (The Tigers did have a Sunday-night appearance on ESPN last season, beating the Yankees in MLB’s Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in mid-August.) The Tigers’ opponent, the Twins, have nearly as long a Sunday-night drought, with Minnesota’s previous appearance on the national showcase coming in September 2020.
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This story was updated to add a gallery.
