{"id":95212,"date":"2025-08-19T21:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T21:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/95212\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T21:03:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T21:03:12","slug":"hunter-browns-latest-detroit-homecoming-coincides-with-a-tarik-skubal-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/95212\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunter Brown\u2019s latest Detroit homecoming coincides with a Tarik Skubal showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 Hunter Brown was in fifth grade when a classmate at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic School won a contest. Justin Verlander and Detroit Tigers infielder Carlos Guill\u00e9n visited the elementary school<\/a>. Inside a small classroom, a young Brown got a picture with the ace he idolized.<\/p>\n

Years later, Brown became teammates with Verlander on the Houston Astros. He showed Verlander the picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he was too fond of how old it made him feel,\u201d Brown joked at his locker Monday.<\/p>\n

All these years later, Brown still holds his Detroit identity close to his heart. He can rattle off memories of the Tigers teams he watched growing up in suburban St. Clair Shores. Magglio Ord\u00f3\u00f1ez\u2019s home run to send the Tigers to the 2006 World Series. The electricity every time Joel Zumaya stepped on the mound. Jered Weaver\u2019s jawing with Guill\u00e9n after a bat flip in 2011. Austin Jackson\u2019s getting traded in the middle of a game. All those and more still flow through his mind.<\/p>\n

He attended Detroit\u2019s Wayne State University as an unheralded college player. He blossomed into a top prospect with an undeniable fastball. The Astros selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft. In 2022, Brown pitched his second MLB game in Detroit, and he held the Tigers to two runs over six innings. He started that game as a young up-and-comer with so much left to prove.<\/p>\n

Brown still keeps a residence in the Detroit area. He\u2019s been known to walk his dog, Whiskey, around the downtown streets<\/a> and even around Comerica Park. He still trains at 2SP Sports Performance in Madison Heights. He keeps in contact with his friends from high school and remains loyal to New York Deli off 10 Mile Road. If you hope to bump into a big-leaguer in metro Detroit during the gray of winter, it is more likely to be Brown than it is any active member of the Tigers.<\/p>\n

Brown has pitched in Detroit twice more since that first outing. He has a lifetime 2.81 ERA in Comerica Park. He even faced the Tigers during last year\u2019s playoffs in Houston, a game that ended up marking the end of the Astros\u2019 season.<\/p>\n

Now, Brown is prepping for his latest Detroit homecoming. Friends and family will fill the stands. And something about this one feels different.<\/p>\n

This time, Brown will pitch not as a touted prospect or a rising stud but instead as the owner of a 2.45 ERA and one of the premier pitchers in the sport. He will happen to face off against Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, one of few pitchers who could stand in the way of Brown\u2019s claiming his own piece of hardware.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetroit ties are cool,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cIt would be cooler if he was wearing our jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tarik Skubal leads qualifying American League starters with a 2.42 ERA this season. (Lon Horwedel \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

In Tuesday\u2019s matchup, there is something at stake, both for the pitchers who will step on the rubber and for the teams they represent. The Tigers and Astros are among a handful of teams vying for the top two seeds in the American League. Entering Tuesday\u2019s matchup, the Tigers held the No. 1 seed, just a half game up on the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

The Astros are clinging to a small lead in the AL West. But if the season ended today, they would be headed to another three-game snakepit in the AL Wild Card Series.<\/p>\n

The atmosphere, then, could be terse as two of the league\u2019s best pitchers square off. Skubal\u2019s and Brown\u2019s lockers were near each other during this year\u2019s All-Star Game. They chatted briefly. They observed one another going about their work and their routines. There is mutual respect among such stalwarts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got good stuff, pitches in the zone, strikes guys out, kind of does everything that you want as a starting pitcher,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cIt\u2019s why he was at the All-Star Game this year, and that\u2019s why he\u2019s got the numbers he\u2019s got.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really not to like?\u201d Brown said of Skubal. \u201cThe guy throws a bunch of strikes. Doesn\u2019t walk people. Reigning Cy Young (winner). So he\u2019s doing his thing. But I know the guys will come out ready to try to jump on him and put us in a position to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal is no stranger to such matchups. He faced off against Zack Wheeler on ESPN\u2019s \u201cSunday Night Baseball\u201d earlier this month. He started opposite Paul Skenes at the All-Star Game. He is a fan of the sport and enjoys watching other elite starters from the dugout.<\/p>\n

But when he\u2019s throwing in the same game as a pitcher such as Brown, there might be less of an appreciation for pitching artistry as it unfolds.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally good pitching, I really don\u2019t like to pitch against it,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI\u2019d rather sit in the dugout and watch the guys go because when I\u2019m going against (it), I\u2019m worried about how many outs are in the inning. I\u2019m not really worrying about how they\u2019re getting it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal and Brown were underrecruited high schoolers who have blossomed into two of the league\u2019s finest pitchers. Skubal\u2019s upbringing in the small town of Kingman, Ariz., helped tell the story of a pitcher who was overlooked until he morphed into must-see TV.<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s Detroit roots fed into the narrative of a pitcher who was nobody until he became somebody.<\/p>\n

Even as he tries to best Brown on Tuesday, Skubal has an appreciation for the moment. He has pitched in front of old college friends in Seattle, in front of immediate family in Arizona and in front of other relatives in California.<\/p>\n

For Brown, this is another homecoming, albeit with the stakes a little more magnified.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to throw in front of family and the people that you don\u2019t see because you play this game,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cYou get to play this game and perform in front of them, and it kind of makes all those sacrifices worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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