Two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal will return from the injured list on Saturday as the Tigers take on the host Cleveland Guardians, Detroit manager A.J. Hinch announced Thursday.
Skubal, a left-hander, underwent surgery on May 6 to remove a loose body from his pitching elbow.
“We’re adding the best pitcher in baseball back to our mix,” Hinch said Thursday. “It’s hard to describe what that boost will be.”
Skubal, 29, experienced discomfort in his April 29 start against the Atlanta Braves in a 4-3 loss. He allowed two runs in seven innings and didn’t figure into the decision.
“I need to keep the game of baseball as the game of baseball, especially not trying to make up for the last five weeks I’ve been gone,” Skubal said Tuesday, via the Detroit Free Press. “I can’t do that with one pitch or one outing. That’ll be the challenge — to keep the game as the game.”
Skubal is 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA in seven starts this season. He has struck out 45 batters and walked only six in 43 1/3 innings.
Five of his starts were quality starts.
He has a 57-39 record and a 3.06 ERA in seven seasons and 144 games (141 starts) for the Tigers since 2020. He has struck out 934 batters compared to 178 walks in 810 innings.
The Tigers finished last season with an 87-75 record, one game back of the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central. They defeated Cleveland in the wild-card round, then lost to the Seattle Mariners in the AL Division Series.
This season, the Tigers have fallen to fourth place in the Central with a 28-40 record.
