Tigers' Skubal done for year with elbow injury

Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal will have his breakout campaign cut short as the club has opted to shut him down for the remainder of the year.

"We're concerned about Tarik," manager A.J. Hinch said, according to MLB.com's Joey Pollizze. "He's not going to pitch the rest of the season. (The injury is) more in the elbow area than the shoulder. That obviously brings significant concern for us. We'll wait for the doctor's words next week."

Skubal, 25, last pitched on Aug. 1, throwing five shutout innings and allowing three hits and two walks while striking out four against the Minnesota Twins.

The young lefty was seemingly cruising at the time, and it was puzzling for the club to lift him on 77 pitches. However, the Tigers announced shortly after that Skubal had suffered left arm fatigue during the outing.

Now, Detroit has apparently isolated the ailment to the elbow and is awaiting further medical opinions on how to proceed. The team placed Skubal on the 60-day injured list on Aug. 3, effectively ending his season.

A report surfaced days before the trade deadline saying the Tigers were open to hearing offers on everyone, including Skubal, who is under team control through the 2026 campaign. The young southpaw posted a 3.52 ERA with a 2.97 FIP over 21 starts this year before he went down, which would've made him one of the top starting pitchers available at the deadline if he didn't suffer a season-ending injury.

Earlier this week, the Tigers fired executive vice president and general manager Al Avila. The club invested $77 million in left-handed starter Eduardo Rodriguez and $140 million in shortstop Javier Baez this past winter. Despite adding those sizeable contracts to the books, Detroit sits dead last in the AL Central and the Junior Circuit with a minus-135 run differential.