Tigers' Tarik Skubal tells Alex Bregman what to do at plate, but then Red Sox star wins battle anyway

Billy Heyen

Tigers' Tarik Skubal tells Alex Bregman what to do at plate, but then Red Sox star wins battle anyway image

The first two times Alex Bregman hit in Detroit on Wednesday night, the Red Sox star swung at the first pitch.

Tigers ace Tarik Skubal took the chance when Bregman was at third base, near Detroit's dugout, to share his thoughts. Skubal was captured by the Tigers broadcast shouting out toward Bregman and appearing to gesture to take a pitch.

Bregman's next time up, Skubal fired in a first-pitch fastball, and Bregman took it.

Skubal laughed.

But Bregman got the last laugh, because on the next pitch, he lined a single the other way.

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There's something beautifully old school about this.

In the earliest, earliest days of baseball, the batter actually told the pitcher where he wanted the ball thrown.

There are legends of Satchel Paige telling batters exactly what he was about to do and then striking them out anyway.

Pitcher-batter showdowns these days very rarely include conversation between the opposition, but this was a fun little moment in the middle of a long season.

Next time, Skubal might want to tell Bregman to make an out, not just take a pitch.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle