Skubal's 'pretty bad' outing back of mind as he looks to World Baseball Classic

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The first sign Sunday could be a weird afternoon for Tarik Skubal came when he took the mound to pick up the ball for the first pitch -- and there were two of them.

“I was telling [plate umpire] Laz [Diaz], ‘I don’t know what the hell’s going on out there, but I can only throw one still,’” Skubal joked after the Tigers' 4-4 tie with the Blue Jays. “The ABS has changed, but we still throw only one ball. That was just a joke; I love Laz a lot.”

Five pitches later, as Jonatan Clase dashed to first with an infield single on a ground ball to third, the theme was set, and Skubal was into compete mode for his second outing of the spring. He threw back-to-back pitches at 99 mph to retire Jesús Sánchez and end the inning, then had another leadoff single in the second when Brandon Valenzuela's fly ball fell in front of center fielder Javier Báez. Both runners were erased on double plays, but a leadoff walk to Rafael Lantigua in the third came back to haunt Skubal after doubles on consecutive pitches to Sean Keys and Clase.

Skubal gave up two runs on four hits over three innings with a walk and a strikeout. He drew just four swinging strikes and five called strikes out of his 28 total strikes over 44 pitches.

“Execution wise, was pretty bad today,” Skubal said. “But it’s OK. It’s part of the game. You live and you learn from it.”

It’s part of the Spring Training buildup process, except for the outing that follows: When Skubal next takes the mound, he’ll be pitching for Team USA against Great Britain next Saturday in the World Baseball Classic at Daikin Park in Houston. He’ll do most of his between-start routine with the national team under the watch of USA pitching coach Andy Pettitte.

Skubal is trying not to treat it as anything different, even if the international stage is bigger than a weekend afternoon at Joker Marchant Stadium.

“I don’t think I put any different pressure or focus on today’s game than I normally would on a normal game,” Skubal said. “No matter what stage or level you’re playing the game, the game’s always the same. And that’s something that I’ve always prided myself on doing.”

The preparation is the same. The experience, however, is special.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Skubal said. “I’m going to have a ton of pride doing it. I think just sharing the room with those guys is going to be special, too. It’s like an All-Star Game, but you get to spend a week with it. It’s the best players from America, and then you’re going to play the best players from around the world.

“It’s going to be a ton of fun. Obviously the knowledge, there’s a ton of lefties that are there. [Clayton] Kershaw’s a [future] Hall of Famer. Andy Pettitte’s the pitching coach. There’s going to be guys that I’m going to be able to just talk to about pitching in general, how they go about it, whether it’s scouting, whether it’s preparation, whether it’s something that they did later in their career that helped them pitch as long as they did, because all those guys had pretty long careers. Something positive will come from it for sure; I just don’t know what it is yet.”

Madden, Smith optioned

The Tigers made their second round of Spring Training roster cuts Sunday morning, this time involving healthy players. Right-hander Ty Madden and Dylan Smith both pitched for the Tigers this spring, but both were on the outside looking in on the Opening Day roster. With available innings about to become scarce, the Tigers optioned them to Triple-A Toledo to get more work.

Madden will still start for the Tigers on Tuesday in their exhibition game against the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo. He’ll open the season in the rotation at Toledo as he works back from a lost 2025 season due to a shoulder strain. Smith will work out of the Mud Hens bullpen.

“He’s got to pitch every five days,” manager A.J. Hinch said of Madden. “And as you get JV [Justin Verlander] on board, as you get Framber [Valdez] on board, we’re going to run out of innings to give to him.”