Fresh off his best performance since undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow, Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal will try to keep his team on a roll against the visiting Kansas City Royals on Friday evening.

The Tigers won the opener of the four-game series 4-3 on Thursday, their fifth victory in seven games coming out of the All-Star break.

Skubal (6-5, 2.83 ERA) fired seven shutout innings in a 7-0 win against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, his seventh start since missing six weeks following the surgery. He is 3-3 with a 2.97 ERA in that seven-start stretch.

The two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner allowed five hits to the Angels, all singles. He struck out nine and didn’t issue a walk on a tidy 87 pitches.

“I’m not going to change who I am on the mound, but I don’t think I’ve held up my side of the deal lately in the last couple of starts,” Skubal said. “It’s just frustrating. The way to fix that is to get ahead with first-pitch strikes and put guys away in three or four pitches.”

Skubal threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 24 batters he faced in Anaheim, Calif.

“The more you’re in the zone, the more they start swinging, and that allows you to pitch deeper,” said Skubal, a potential target for contenders ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. “I’ve been frustrated, for sure, but I can’t let that impact my start. (Saturday) was much better.”

The Royals are one of the few teams Skubal has struggled against during his career. He owns a 4-9 record and 4.06 ERA in 18 appearances vs. Kansas City, including 16 starts.

The Tigers will go up against a left-hander as well, with Noah Cameron set to be the bulk reliever after right-hander Beck Way (1-0, 3.22 ERA) starts on Friday.

Way, a 26-year-old rookie, will be making his first career start after 18 relief appearances. He was pitching well until his latest outing, when he yielded four runs (one earned) in 1 2/3 innings against the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

Cameron (5-8, 5.27 ERA) surrendered five runs and five hits in seven innings during a 6-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on July 11, then took a further step back coming out of the All-Star break. He gave up seven runs and nine hits in five innings in a 19-2 loss to the Padres on Sunday.

“I feel like I let the team down a lot,” Cameron said. “Obviously, coming into (Sunday), trying to get a sweep. Come out, that first inning is good, but after that, things kind of went downhill.”

Cameron has a 7.97 ERA in his past seven starts, and he has surrendered at least five runs in four of his past five appearances.

“He’s also had some really good stretches in games where he’s shown that he can eat innings and he can be really effective,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We want him to pitch. He’s good, and he’s had a couple of tough games, but we need him.”

Cameron reached triple digits in innings during his latest start (100 2/3) and is creeping up on the 138 1/3 innings he tossed last season as a rookie.

“Obviously, I’m throwing a lot of stressful innings,” Cameron said. “It’s been tough, but realistically, I just have to stay healthy and keep throwing innings, and hopefully things will decrease numbers-wise and I can have some good outings. Try to stay healthy as much as we can. We obviously need it.”

Cameron made his only career start against the Tigers on May 10 and did not receive a decision after allowing three runs and four hits in four-plus innings.

The Royals had won five of their six games since the All-Star break before dropping the series opener to the Tigers.

Quatraro was absent from the Thursday game due to a personal matter, with bench coach Paul Hoover filling in as manager. The Royals announced that Quatraro’s absence isn’t expected to last long.

–Field Level Media

The National League wild-card race takes center stage when the Arizona Diamondbacks visit the Washington Nationals for a three-game series beginning Friday night.

Though the calendar still reads July, both teams are in the wild-card mix and trying to determine whether to be buyers or sellers ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Arizona has won three straight and five of six after winning a makeup game in St. Louis on Thursday, 10-6. The Diamondbacks hold the final NL wild-card spot with five teams within four games of them.

One of those teams is the Nationals, who are two back and return home after a 4-2 road trip.

“People are talking about the playoffs, trade deadline, buyers and sellers,” Washington manager Blake Butera said Wednesday. “And I know this is the first time a lot of these guys have played meaningful baseball in late July, and hopefully into August. So we’re having fun with this.”

Arizona will send All-Star left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (8-3, 2.62 ERA) to face left-hander Carson Palmquist (0-1, 8.74) on Friday. Palmquist will serve as the opener ahead of right-hander Zack Littell (7-7, 5.34).

After a string of five starts in which he went at least six innings and gave up two runs or fewer, Rodriguez was roughed up by the Cardinals his last time out. He gave up five runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings on Sunday, but Arizona rallied from a 7-0 deficit for an 8-7, 10-inning win.

“I feel like I missed a lot of spots with the changeup,” Rodriguez said after that contest. “The four-seam (fastball) wasn’t working great today. I had a good plan, they had a good plan. They executed, and they took advantage of it.”

Rodriguez is 3-2 with a 3.09 ERA in five career games (four starts) against Washington. He lost to the Nationals on June 6 after yielding four runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

After two solid efforts working behind an opener, Littell started against the Athletics on Saturday and gave up eight runs on eight hits (two home runs) over six innings in a 15-1 loss.

Palmquist opened against the Rockies on Tuesday and gave up four runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings.

Littell is 2-1 with a 4.84 ERA in 11 games (five starts) against the Diamondbacks in his career. He earned a victory over Rodriguez in Phoenix on June 6, when he permitted one run on two hits in five innings.

On Thursday in St. Louis, Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was scratched because of back stiffness. Amid an infield shuffle, Tyler Locklear got the start and went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs in a 10-6 Diamondbacks victory. It was his first long ball of the season.

“Not easy to do what he did,” manager Torey Lovullo said of Locklear. “He comes to the ballpark, he’s always preparing to play. I know that. … I think he’s got the right mindset. He’s always ready.”

Washington completed its road trip with an 8-0 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday in Denver. Cade Cavalli tossed six scoreless innings and the Nationals broke the game open with a six-run seventh inning keyed by Luis Garcia Jr.’s two-run homer.

“It’s like a ticking time bomb. We’re sitting in the dugout like, we know it’s going to happen. There’s no doubt,” Cavalli said. “Their pitchers did a great job, and give them credit. But our offense got to them. It’s just kind of what they do.”

The Nationals lead the majors in runs (567), stolen bases (113), home runs (150) and slugging percentage (.443).

–Field Level Media

The Atlanta Braves made it through a good week since the All-Star break, but there is no letup for them in this stretch of the season.

They face the Orioles on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at Baltimore.

“A stretch of 17 straight (days with games) when you’re trying to protect your bullpen,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said of the situation facing his team.

The Braves have won five of seven games since the break, including a 6-5 triumph over the visiting Padres on Thursday afternoon when Atlanta hit four home runs. Atlanta took three out of four against San Diego.

“That’s a great series win,” Weiss said. “We’ve had different guys contributing again.”

The Orioles had won seven straight before dropping the first two games of their series in Boston this week. However, Baltimore got back on track with a 5-1 victory in the second game of a Wednesday doubleheader, snapping the Red Sox’s franchise-record-tying 15-game winning streak.

Every game seems huge for the Orioles, who had Thursday off, as they try to stay in playoff contention. Baltimore sits three games back of the final AL wild-card spot.

“We’re trying to win every game we play,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “There’s still a lot of season left.”

Gunnar Henderson had four extra-base hits across the three games in Boston. His batting average is up to .225, so it’s another potential turning point for one of the key components of Baltimore’s offense.

“The approach was outstanding, being able to drive the ball the opposite way against a lefty,” Albernaz said of Henderson hitting a triple off Boston’s Jovani Moran in the Wednesday nightcap. “Like we’ve always talked about, he has always been close to getting the results, and it’s good to see him get the results.”

Albernaz said removing outfielder Tyler O’Neill midgame in that contest wasn’t related to an injury. O’Neill played the doubleheader opener, and with Baltimore ahead in the second game, the situation provided a chance to insert defensive whiz Colton Cowser into center field for the late innings.

The Orioles return home with makeshift options at catcher after Samuel Basallo went on the injured list Wednesday due to right shoulder inflammation. Adley Rutschman landed on the IL earlier in the week because of an ailing left wrist.

Those developments leave the Orioles with Sam Huff and Chadwick Tromp as their catchers.

Trevor Rogers (6-7, 4.28 ERA) heads to the mound for the Orioles on Friday. He has won his past three decisions, but he is coming off a pair of no-decisions despite allowing a total of two runs across 12 1/3 innings in matchups vs. the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros.

The 28-year-old left-hander has given up no more than two runs in each of his past six starts.

Rogers is 1-7 with a 4.81 ERA in 10 all-time starts against Atlanta, with all except one of those outings coming as National League East clashes when he pitched for the Miami Marlins. For the Orioles, he blanked the Braves for 6 2/3 innings last July.

Right-hander Grant Holmes (6-4, 3.70) will start for the Braves, looking to add to a strong stretch. In his past five starts, he is 2-1 with a 1.90 ERA. In his only career matchup with the Orioles, Holmes took a loss while yielding two runs in six innings last July.

The Braves are making their first road trip since the All-Star break. They will visit the New York Mets for three games after the weekend set in Baltimore.

–Field Level Media