Skubal returns to the rotation with 'fire and such aggressiveness'

DETROIT -- Tarik Skubal tried to make a quiet entrance into the Tigers' clubhouse at Comerica Park on Tuesday afternoon, just like he’d done every other start before flexor tendon surgery last summer, and every day for his rehab work this spring. His Tigers teammates weren’t having it, teasing him as he arrived for his first Major League game in just under a year.

It was a little more attention than he’s used to, but it was welcome.

“Our team does a good job of supporting each other,” he said. “I don't take that for granted when they're excited. I've worked really hard for this for the last 11 months, to be back on the mound.”

He missed the routine, the anxiety that comes on when he wakes up on start day, the drive to the park with business at hand. Little did any of them know just how special of a return this would be, even with a frustrating end in a 1-0, 10-inning loss.

Between Skubal and piggyback starter Reese Olson, Detroit held Oakland hitless for 6 2/3 innings. It was a solid bid for a combined no-hitter, but the Tigers would have needed to score to finish it off. They never did, even after the A’s put up a ground-ball single in the seventh and a run-scoring single in the 10th.

Results-wise, it was another frustrating Detroit defeat, particularly coming off an encouraging road trip. Yet Tuesday was a major step closer to normal, a big name off the injured list that has cast a shadow over the season to date.

The Tigers get another big arm back Wednesday, when Eduardo Rodriguez makes his first start since May 28. Detroit’s offense, which went eerily quiet Tuesday after a week of strong performances on the road, should get a boost soon with Riley Greene and Akil Baddoo currently on rehab assignments.

There could be many happy returns where this came from. The next step will be putting it all together into a late-season run for a team that has plodded along shorthanded for much of the summer. The sight of Skubal carving up hitters was big in that regard.

“I kind of expect Skubal to be a monster every time out,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “I think the best part was how much he harnessed his emotions. He pitches with such fire and such aggressiveness.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball, quite honestly, when he’s right. Coming right out of the gate in his first Major League start after a lengthy layoff, I thought he was great.”

For four innings -- the number the Tigers had pegged for Skubal in his first start back -- the left-hander overpowered an A’s lineup that had been on the wrong end of Domingo German’s perfect game last week. Skubal struck out six of Oakland’s first 10 batters, including four in a row from the second inning into the third.

Esteury Ruiz, a .291 hitter off fastballs this season entering the game, froze on a 96 mph heater to lead off the game. Nick Allen spun himself into a corkscrew trying to check his swing on Skubal’s 98 mph fastball up and in, so much so that Allen fell over as home-plate umpire Bill Miller ruled that he went around.

“Skubal’s fastball was electric,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.

In some ways, Skubal picked up where he left off last summer. In some ways, he was better. His fastball played up, averaging 96.4 miles per hour and topping out at 98.4, partly thanks to the adrenaline of the moment. His slider had more vertical break than his average from last season, according to Statcast, something he said he’d been working on after struggling with it last year. It actually accounted for his only baserunner when the slider hit A’s All-Star Brent Rooker in the leg in the fourth.

“It’s good to have the work that you’ve been putting in show up in the game,” Skubal said.

Skubal had only one reminder that he was just coming back, beyond the innings limit: He grabbed the back of his left leg after a fourth-inning pitch, which he attributed to a cramp. His reaction to the ensuing mound visit looked just like normal.

“He wanted us to get off the field and let him pitch,” Hinch said. “He threw the [warmup] ball to the backstop at about 98, so I knew he was doing fine.”