DETROIT -- Tarik Skubal is back, and just in time for one of the Tigers’ biggest series of the season to date. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner will return from the injured list and start in Cleveland against the Guardians on Saturday, 38 days after undergoing surgery to remove a loose body from his left elbow.
Jack Flaherty will start the series opener Friday night. Casey Mize, sidelined since May 29 with right groin tightness, is expected to return from the injured list and start Sunday’s series finale, barring a setback.
Skubal’s return against the division rival provides a major boost to a Tigers club that entered Thursday 8 1/2 games behind the division-leading White Sox and eight games behind the Guardians in the AL Central. Detroit has won six of its last eight games despite an injury-depleted rotation that has been essentially operating with four starters over the past week thanks to off-days.
“We’re adding the best pitcher in baseball back to our mix,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Thursday. “It’s hard to describe what that boost will be.”
Skubal last pitched for the Tigers on April 29 in Atlanta, where he tossed seven innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts against the Braves. He was abruptly scratched from his next start against the Red Sox and placed on the injured list for what was eventually diagnosed as a loose body that had been bothering him off and on since before the season started.
Skubal underwent surgery to remove the loose body on May 6. The procedure, performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, involved a nanoscope, a relatively new instrument that can remove loose bodies with less disruption than a traditional arthroscopic surgery. It had been used on hockey players but was new to baseball.
The hope was that the less invasive surgery, along with Skubal’s aggressive approach to rehab, would lead to a quicker recovery than the typical 2-3 month timetable for arthroscopic surgery.
“I don’t look at it as if I’m ahead of schedule,” Skubal said Tuesday. “The doctor, when I had surgery, told me 4-6 weeks. So if anything, we’re being conservative. I think we’ve taken this with the right approach, not aggressive. I feel good, though, and that’s what matters.”
Skubal made a rehab start for High-A West Michigan last Friday, tossing five scoreless innings with six strikeouts. He threw 54 pitches in the outing, then another 15 in the bullpen.
“We’ve been very aggressive, but patient at the same time, rolling one thing out at a time,” Hinch said. “And now, with the work that he’s done and how he feels coming out of his [rehab] outing and his bullpen. He’ll pitch on Saturday, and everybody will be really excited to get him back.
“I don’t know how long [the start] will be. I don’t know if it’ll be a normal start or we abbreviate it. But just getting him back into the routine, into the fold, is a tremendous boost for this team and this rotation and our organization.”
A return in Cleveland seems fitting given their history. It’ll be Skubal’s 17th career start against the Guardians, including three in the postseason. The last time he pitched at Progressive Field, he struck out 14 Guardians over 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 win to open their 2025 AL Wild Card Series.
“I’m sure if I wanted it to mean something more, I could make it something more,” Skubal said Tuesday about a matchup with the Guardians. “But I’m going to go out and compete and be who I am. I think I need to keep the game of baseball the game of baseball, especially not try to make up for the last five weeks I’ve been gone. I can’t do that with one pitch or one outing. That’ll be the challenge, keep the game the game and go out there and worry about executing pitches.”
If Mize starts Sunday as hoped, Troy Melton would then start Monday, when the Tigers open a three-game series against the Astros in Houston. From there, the Tigers are likely to move to a six-man rotation.
“We want our best pitchers and our guys to pitch, so that's the most logical way, as it stands today,” Hinch said, “with the caveat of, 'just get me to that spot where we actually have all systems go,' where we can use our pitchers accordingly.
"I don't really know what it means yet on how it's going to lay out, but given that we have, seven starters, eight, counting Ty [Madden] -- who's done a lot of starting, even though he's been independent the last couple of outings -- keeping those guys in a regular routine. I think it’s going to trend that way.”