Tarik Skubal is almost a lock to win his second straight American League Cy Young Award. But the Detroit Tigers ace left fans their breath Friday night.
Skubal left his outing in the fourth inning with an injury, and the Tigers dropped their second straight, 8-2, to the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park.
Skubal, of course, is the favorite ahead of Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet for the 2025 AL Cy Young award. The Tigers ace leads the AL in ERA (2.10), ERA+ (198), FIP (2.29) and is second in the majors in strikeouts (224), trailing only Crochet (228).
The Tigers (84-64) lead the American League Central by 7.5 games over the Cleveland Guardians. They trail the Toronto Blue Jays by 1.5 games for the No. 1 seed in the American League with just 14 to play.
What Happened To Tarik Skubal?
This dominant season came on the heels of Skubal’s near-unhittable season, where he won the AL Triple Crown as a starting pitcher a year ago. Skubal also nearly willed Detroit to the ALCS, since he went 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 19 postseason innings — pitching the Tigers past the Houston Astros and nearly getting them by the Guardians in the ALDS.
But the Tigers are waiting to see if Skubal will be able to have an impact like that in the playoffs this year, since after throwing 45 pitches and allowing an un-Skubal-like four earned runs and four hits in just 3 1/3 innings, before leaving with the injury.
The Tigers announced Skubal had left-side tightness. But ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reported Skubal would undergo imaging Saturday.
“Skubal left his start in the fourth inning with discomfort near his left rib cage and will undergo imaging tomorrow to determine the severity of the injury, sources tell ESPN,” Passan shared on X (formerly Twitter). “Detroit, fighting for the ALâs top seed, is holding out hope for good news.”
Skubal picked up just his fifth loss of the season, and the Tigers fell to just 21-8 in his starts this year.
What Did The Tigers Say About Tarik Skubal’s Injury?
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch did not think twice about getting Skubal from the game after the ace reported his injury.
“We’re going to take him out right away at that point,” Hinch said during his postgame media availability. “He said he could keep throwing, but we weren’t even going to have him throw a warmup pitch.”
The good news for Tigers fans is Skubal addressed reporters and did not seem concerned.
“I’m obviously going to be optimistic,” he said, according to the Detroit News. “I understand I took myself out of the game. I understand there is some sort of concern, right? But I’ve seen our trainers, done a lot of physical stuff and nothing really jumps out at me. So in that aspect, I’m optimistic about it.
“We’ll get some more information, probably some imaging just to see what’s there and maybe calm the brain down a little bit, too.”
Skubal insisted announcing his injury was necessary to protect himself from an injury that could cost him starts next month.
“Certain things happen during a game where you feel things. They come and go just with the game. This is one that didn’t go away,” Skubal said. “That’s what prompted me to call for [Hinch] and the trainer.
“I wasn’t very comfortable letting it go. This time of year, with what we’ve got going forward, I don’t want to risk causing me to miss some real time.”
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