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MIAMI — Detroit Tigers fans worried about ace Tarik Skubal can take a breath now.
The left-hander, who removed himself from his start against the Miami Marlins with one out in the fourth inning on Friday, Sept. 12, doesn’t appear seriously injured.
After pulling himself out of an MLB game for the first time in his career with tightness in his left side, Skubal returned to Detroit for testing and got “good” news, according to manager A.J. Hinch on Saturday, Sept. 13.
“The scan came back clean, so obviously that’s great for us and great for him,” Hinch said. “Now we’ll work towards his work week.”
His next start is scheduled for the series finale against the Cleveland Guardians at Comerica Park on Thursday, Sept. 18.
Will he start that game?
The Tigers aren’t sure, but they haven’t ruled it out.
“We’re just gonna go day by day and make the best decisions we can,” Hinch said. “I don’t have any more info until he does more.”
The Tigers are expected to use a bullpen day on Sunday, pushing back Skubal’s normal start, which was the plan all along.
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Skubal will not return to Miami and he will stay in Detroit, with the Tigers returning for a six-game homestand against the Cleveland Guardians and Atlanta Braves beginning Tuesday, Sept. 16.
“We’ll get together with him on Monday,” Hinch said. “He’ll do his normal post throwing workout that he does and we’ll move forward. So obviously, good news.”
Hinch was in a light, happy mood as he gave the report.
“Obviously, I’m happy,” Hinch said. “We got a lot of work to do to, you know, to get him through this soreness. I don’t like him having any soreness whatsoever, any of our guys, but clearly we were all waiting for the scan and the evaluation, and to have positive news is a good step forward.”
Hinch said the medical tests matched how Skubal was describing what he was feeling.
“All of that was consistent with what he was saying (Friday) night, so it matched the physical evaluation to go along with the medical evaluation today, and that makes for an optimistic review today,” Hinch said.
Skubal, the AL Cy Young Award winner last season, allowed four runs on three hits – including two home runs – on Friday before calling catcher Jake Rogers and Hinch out to the mound.
The outing raised his ERA to 2.26 – second in the American League, behind Houston’s Hunter Brown (2.25) – over 183⅓ innings (in 29 starts) this season.
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