Will Tigers’ Tarik Skubal pitch Friday vs. Guardians after dominant rehab start?

Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal was lights out in his most recent rehab start. But when he will officially return to the majors is yet to be seen.

Manager AJ Hinch was hopeful Skubal would be back after just one rehab start. But the left-hander is still waiting on further confirmation before taking his next step, via Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic.

“That’s a good question that I’m not going to answer,” Skubal said. “There’s a plan in place. I need to wake up and feel good tomorrow and have a good week of work, and then we’ll make that decision when we need to make it. But it doesn’t really do me any good to tell you guys when I’m pitching next. I need to make sure I bounce back from this one really well.”

There is still a chance Skubal pitches on Friday against the Cleveland Guardians. But he first wants to see how his body reacts. He has made a rapid return from elbow surgery. Nearing the finish line, that last thing the lefty wants is a setback.

In his first rehab start, Skubal threw five innings of scoreless baseball, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out six. He threw 54 pitches, 44 of them being strikes and hit 99 MPH on his fastball, via Stavenhagen.

While it may have been against High-A competition, the back-to-back Cy Young winner at least looked at the top of his game. If his body holds up in the days after that start, Skubal could be back in the majors sooner rather than later.

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