DETROIT -- The sigh of relief heard downtown on Monday came from Comerica Park, where Tarik Skubal threw his usual between-starts mound session in the Tigers' bullpen without any recurrence of the left-side tightness that prompted his early exit from Friday’s start in Miami.
Barring an unforeseen setback, Skubal will take the mound for Thursday afternoon’s series finale against the Guardians, his mighty left arm effectively an ace card in the three-game division clash that could propel Detroit toward its first American League Central title since 2014.
Or as Skubal put it, “It’s on to the next one.”
That simple statement from Skubal was exactly what the Tigers and manager A.J. Hinch wanted to hear. They were obviously relieved after initial tests on Skubal’s left rib cage came back clean, indicating no structural damage, and tentatively lined him up for Thursday. Still, they wanted to see how Skubal progressed through his between-starts routine before fully committing.
Skubal wasn’t quite so worried.
“During the game, I was a little worried about it,” Skubal said Tuesday. “But when I came out and kind of calmed down and ran through most of the testing with our trainers, I wasn’t too concerned after that.”
Not only was Skubal not tentative in his bullpen session, he indicated that he amped it up a notch to give his side a good test, as much for his peace of mind as for the team’s.
“If anything, I probably worked a little bit harder, just to make sure that I was good to go,” Skubal said. “There was nothing there, so it was all good.”
It’s difficult to overstate how much that means for this series. Skubal has tossed 16 scoreless innings across two starts against the Guardians this season, allowing just five base hits, one hit batter and no walks with 23 strikeouts. The last time Cleveland visited Comerica Park, Skubal tossed a two-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts on May 25. His 94th and final pitch was a 102.6 mph fastball to strike out Gabriel Arias; it was the hardest pitch by a Tiger since Statcast began tracking in 2015 and the hardest pitch by an MLB starter since pitch tracking began in 2008.
Skubal has tossed 13 outings of seven or more innings. The Guardians and Royals are the only teams to see it twice. Skubal hasn’t allowed a run to Cleveland since Lane Thomas’ grand slam in Game 5 of last year’s AL Division Series at Progressive Field.
“This series is going to be fun,” Skubal said. “It’s a good team. We tend to play some baseball games against each other. It’ll be fun. … Obviously, hopefully we sweep. I think that’s the division if the math works out.”