Five days after the perfect debut, Eric Skoglund had to settle for a lesson in how baseball usually goes. Magical nights can’t last forever. Reality is always ready to snap back in squarely your face. Five days after a goosebump-inducing standing ovation on Tuesday night, the second start of his career ended with a downpour.
There was rain, of course, an afternoon storm on Sunday that prompted a one-hour, 50-minute delay, limited Skoglund’s outing to just two innings and offered an easy metaphor for this performance.
In an 8-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians, Skoglund was jolted for four runs in two innings, his day ruined in moments in the second inning.