Tigers ace Tarik Skubal exited during the fourth inning of Friday’s 8-2 loss against the Marlins due to injury.
Skubal, 28, grabbed at his left side after throwing just the 45th pitch of his start, with Detroit manager A.J. Hinch taking him out after a short meeting on the mound.
Detroit announced in the sixth inning that Skubal “exited tonight’s game after experiencing tightness in his left side and is currently under evaluation.”
The lefty is set to undergo imaging tomorrow to see how severe the injury is, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported.
Skubal missed significant portions of the 2022 and ’23 seasons due to a torn flexor tendon. He previously underwent Tommy John surgery in college.
Skubal, who has been next to dominant all season, had a rough start for Detroit, giving up four earned runs on four hits through 3⅓ innings.
Coming into Friday’s game with an AL-leading 2.10 ERA along with 222 strikeouts in 180 innings through 28 starts, Skubal is the frontrunner to win his second straight Cy Young award.
Skubal’s injury also comes just days after he missed his scheduled start against the Yankees, giving him extra rest before Friday’s start against Miami.
The two-time All-Star told reporters last month that late July and early August were “mentally exhausting” for him.
“The last week of July into early August felt like a grind, where it’s mentally exhausting more than it was physically,” Skubal told reporters then. “Once I got through that, now the focus is on me pitching and then being the best version of myself, so when the games start to mean a lot more — especially the postseason games, where every out and every hitter is very valuable — I need to be at my best, so that way our team has a chance to win that day.”
Hinch said that the mental grind of the season’s second half affects everyone in the big leagues.
“I don’t think he’s too hard on himself,” Hinch said. “You should always set the ball extremely high. Getting himself ready for the stretch run in September and hopefully into October is just part of the season, and he’s had to learn how to deal with that.”
