Tarik Skubal Didn’t Hide His Frustration After Getting Hooked at 93 Pitches

Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is not the type to cause a scene. But after getting pulled from Sunday’s start against the Phillies with two outs in the sixth inning and only 93 pitches thrown, he didn’t exactly shrug it off.

The Tigers lost 5-0 to Philadelphia, and Skubal took the L despite allowing just two earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk. But the story after the game wasn’t the loss. It was the conversation — or lack of one — happening between him and manager A.J. Hinch when the hook came.

Skubal walked off the mound and didn’t look thrilled. He didn’t fake it afterward either.

“I always want to finish my inning, and I pride myself on pitching deeper into ball games,” Skubal said, via MLive.com. “I don’t know, I obviously didn’t like it, but I don’t make those decisions.”

He added that he felt he was still in control and had more left. “I think that I was still in control of what was going on. That’s kind of it, though. I’m not here to create a story about any of it. I’ve always respected A.J.’s decisions on what he’s trying to do. And I trust Keider in those moments too, to come in and do what he does.”

Hinch explains the early hook

Hinch went to reliever Keider Montero to start the bottom of the sixth. He said he saw a pitcher working through some early struggles, then locking in, and that tough innings showed Skubal’s competitiveness.

“I thought Tarik came in trying to find his way, and then when he locked in, I thought he was really good,” Hinch said. “He got out of some tough jams…for him, I think getting through those tough innings just shows kind of the guts he has.”

That’s the kind of thing a manager says when he wants to praise a guy while also justifying pulling him early. Whether it’s about pitch count, matchups, or just wanting to get Montero work, it’s not the sort of decision that goes unnoticed when your ace is on the mound in a tight game — even if the scoreboard said 5-0.

Skubal’s refusal to make it into a bigger story is probably the smart play. He’s the Tigers’ most valuable trade chip and likely the biggest name on the market before the deadline. Every outing gets picked apart for clues. Every reaction from him or Hinch gets turned into speculative noise.

He knows that. That’s probably why he shut down the “creating a story” angle before anyone could ask the follow-up. But the look on his face coming off the field said enough by itself.

Skubal is scheduled to make his next start Saturday night against the Los Angeles Angels. If he throws 94 pitches and gets pulled mid-inning again, the questions will get louder.