Sports
Tarik Skubal returns home as Tigers face White Sox, trade questions
Apr 29, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the second inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images Tarik Skubal will make his first home start since April 23 when the Detroit Tigers host the Chicago White Sox on Friday. It could be one of his last appearances at Comerica Park in a Tigers uniform.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. Unless the Tigers make a dramatic turnaround, they may have little choice but to deal Skubal before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Detroit is beginning a 10-game homestand after losing four of five on the road. The Tigers are tied with the Kansas City Royals for last place in the American League Central.
Skubal made a surprisingly quick return from non-invasive surgery on his pitching elbow. He had the procedure done during the first week of May and made his first major league start since the operation on Saturday. He lasted 4 2/3 innings and 80 pitches against the Cleveland Guardians, giving up three runs (two earned) and five hits.
He walked one and struck out four in a 3-1 loss.
Skubal wasn’t pleased with his outing.
“I need to be better, plain and simple. ‘Just happy to be there,’ that’s a loser mentality to me,” he said.
Skubal won’t be competing for the Tigers much longer unless the team gets back in the playoff hunt.
“I don’t think about (the trade-deadline implications) a lot,” Skubal told the Detroit News. “I try not to let that consume me because I need to worry about what I’m doing today. That way I can go perform on Friday. Just worry how I stack five really good work days so I can go out there and be ready to compete.
“But there’s also the reality part to it. Everybody, the whole room, needs to focus on winning tonight’s game, winning a series, winning the next series and just let it snowball.”
The Tigers didn’t win either series on their road trip. Their lone victory came on Monday when Colt Keith hit three home runs in a 9-3 victory at Houston.
“The urgency is heightened based on the hole that we’re in and where we are at with our win total,” manager A.J. Hinch said of the homestand.
Skubal (3-3, 2.81 ERA) has an 8-2 record and 3.72 ERA in 11 career starts against the White Sox.
Chicago’s starting pitcher on Friday, Erick Fedde (2-5, 4.50 ERA), is 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against the Tigers. He allowed two runs and four hits in four innings during a relief outing against Detroit on May 29.
Fedde had a disastrous May in which he posted a 9.00 ERA in five appearances. He has only given up one earned run in 12 2/3 innings across three June outings, including 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.
The White Sox are tied with Cleveland for first place in the AL Central despite the loss of slugger Munetaka Murakami, who had 20 homers before sustaining a hamstring injury against Detroit on May 29. Chicago has won five of its past eight games.
“They haven’t skipped a beat,” White Sox manager Will Venable said of his players. “I think it really speaks to what our offense was when we did have Mune. As good as he is, we’re getting contributions from everywhere. I think that’s evident now. You take him out of it and the guys are still performing well. Obviously, we want him back in that lineup, but the guys are doing a great job without him.”
The latest player to come through for Chicago was Andrew Benintendi. His pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning on Thursday lifted the White Sox to a 5-1 win over the host New York Yankees, allowing Chicago to salvage the finale of a three-game series.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Angel Reese's double-double drives Dream to win over Fever
Jun 18, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) reacts to a basket and foul call in front of Indiana Fever forward Myisha Hines-Allen (2) in the first half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Angel Reese scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds on Thursday, leading the Atlanta Dream to a 108-101 victory over the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis.
Jordin Canada added 18 points while Naz Hillmon and Allisha Gray each scored 17 points for the Dream (10-4), who won their fourth game in five tries. Rhyne Howard chipped in 16 points and six assists for Atlanta, which eclipsed the 100-point mark for the second straight contest.
Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell each led Indiana (9-6) with 26 points, and Aliyah Boston contributed 23 points and eight rebounds. Sophie Cunningham scored 12 off the bench for the Fever, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Atlanta took the first double-digit lead of the game in the opening minute of the second half as Gray’s three-point play made it 61-51.
Five minutes later, Reese’s layup extended the margin to 13 before Indiana cut its deficit to 87-78 entering the final quarter.
After Hillmon’s trey gave the Dream a 93-84 lead, Mitchell scored seven straight to begin a 9-0 Indiana run, tying the game at 93 apiece with 5:08 remaining.
Reese and Mitchell then traded baskets before Gray’s four straight points gave the Dream a 99-95 lead with 2:09 left. Makayla Timpson’s free throws cut Atlanta’s lead in half, but Howard’s back-to-back baskets extended the margin to six with 48.2 seconds remaining.
Reese’s three-point play put the Dream ahead 106-99 with 23.1 seconds left, icing the outcome.
Indiana matched its largest lead of the first quarter when Mitchell’s jumper gave the Fever a 26-21 edge. Following a three-point play by Reese, Mitchell closed the first with a triple to give Indiana a 29-24 edge after 10 minutes.
There, the Dream began the second on a 10-2 run, taking a 34-31 advantage on Hillmon’s 3-pointer.
After Cunningham’s layup gave the Fever a 38-37 lead, Isobel Borlase’s layup and Gray’s triple put the Dream ahead by four with 5:12 remaining in the first half.
Gray’s back-to-back layups and Borlase’s three-point play accounted for a 7-0 Atlanta run to give the Dream a nine-point lead.
Led by 10 first-half points apiece from Gray and Howard, the Dream held a 58-49 halftime lead. Clark’s 17 paced the Fever before the break.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Angel Reese's double-double drives Dream to win over Fever
Jun 18, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) reacts to a basket and foul call in front of Indiana Fever forward Myisha Hines-Allen (2) in the first half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Angel Reese scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds on Thursday, leading the Atlanta Dream to a 108-101 victory over the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis.
Jordin Canada added 18 points while Naz Hillmon and Allisha Gray each scored 17 points for the Dream (10-4), who won their fourth game in five tries. Rhyne Howard chipped in 16 points and six assists for Atlanta, which eclipsed the 100-point mark for the second straight contest.
Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell each led Indiana (9-6) with 26 points, and Aliyah Boston contributed 23 points and eight rebounds. Sophie Cunningham scored 12 off the bench for the Fever, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Atlanta took the first double-digit lead of the game in the opening minute of the second half as Gray’s three-point play made it 61-51.
Five minutes later, Reese’s layup extended the margin to 13 before Indiana cut its deficit to 87-78 entering the final quarter.
After Hillmon’s trey gave the Dream a 93-84 lead, Mitchell scored seven straight to begin a 9-0 Indiana run, tying the game at 93 apiece with 5:08 remaining.
Reese and Mitchell then traded baskets before Gray’s four straight points gave the Dream a 99-95 lead with 2:09 left. Makayla Timpson’s free throws cut Atlanta’s lead in half, but Howard’s back-to-back baskets extended the margin to six with 48.2 seconds remaining.
Reese’s three-point play put the Dream ahead 106-99 with 23.1 seconds left, icing the outcome.
Indiana matched its largest lead of the first quarter when Mitchell’s jumper gave the Fever a 26-21 edge. Following a three-point play by Reese, Mitchell closed the first with a triple to give Indiana a 29-24 edge after 10 minutes.
There, the Dream began the second on a 10-2 run, taking a 34-31 advantage on Hillmon’s 3-pointer.
After Cunningham’s layup gave the Fever a 38-37 lead, Isobel Borlase’s layup and Gray’s triple put the Dream ahead by four with 5:12 remaining in the first half.
Gray’s back-to-back layups and Borlase’s three-point play accounted for a 7-0 Atlanta run to give the Dream a nine-point lead.
Led by 10 first-half points apiece from Gray and Howard, the Dream held a 58-49 halftime lead. Clark’s 17 paced the Fever before the break.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Torrid Olivia Miles leads Lynx into battle vs. Valkyries
Jun 17, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles (5) celebrates in the first half against the LA Sparks at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Two hot teams that barely missed representing the Western Conference in the Commissioner’s Cup get an opportunity to take out some frustration on the other when the Minnesota Lynx visit the Golden State Valkyries on Friday night in San Francisco.
The pairing is a rematch of an 87-84 home win by the Lynx early in the Commissioner’s Cup schedule, a game in which Minnesota’s Olivia Miles got much the better of Golden State’s Veronica Burton in a duel of star point guards.
Miles torched the Valkyries for 28 points, mostly on the strength of a WNBA-rookie-best 8-for-11 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. The No. 2 overall pick also found time for seven assists and three blocks, including one on Burton, who finished with eight points on 3-for-8 shooting.
Miles has since put up 29 points in a narrow loss at Las Vegas that wound up costing the Lynx (12-3) a Commissioner’s Cup tie-breaker, before pouring in a season-best 31 in a win Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Sparks that allowed the Lynx to tie the Aces for the West’s top record in the in-season tournament.
The early flurry has not only vaulted Miles well clear of the competition in the Rookie of the Year race, but also has placed her firmly on the league’s Most Valuable Player watch list.
Frankly, she’d rather talk about her team’s best record in the WNBA.
“It honestly just means that our team’s doing really well, which is what I’m most proud of,” she told the Los Angeles media about the MVP conversation. “Whether I win awards or not, I’m still the same me.”
As the Lynx complete a two-game trip, Miles will have to deal with a Golden State defense that has done a number on two of the league’s top players this week.
In running their winning streak to four, the Valkyries (10-5) held Kelsey Plum to nine points on 3-for-10 shooting in a 20-point home win over the Sparks on Monday, then limited Paige Bueckers to 15 points on 5-for-13 shooting in a 91-80 win over the Dallas Wings on Wednesday.
Backup point guard Kaitlyn Chen, a fan favorite in San Francisco, played a big role in the defensive game plan against Plum and Dallas’ Azzi Fudd, who also struggled (4-for-13, 10 points) in her Bay Area debut on Wednesday.
“I think Kaitlyn has fun because she prepares so much,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said after the win over the Wings. “Behind the scenes, the preparation, from reading a scout, to watching film. … When she steps on the court, it’s like her playground.”
-Field Level Media
Angel Reese's double-double drives Dream to win over Fever
Angel Reese's double-double drives Dream to win over Fever
