Tarik Skubal returns home as Tigers face White Sox, trade questions

Tarik Skubal will make his first home start since April 23 when the Detroit Tigers host the Chicago White Sox on Friday. It could be one of his last appearances at Comerica Park in a Tigers uniform.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. Unless the Tigers make a dramatic turnaround, they may have little choice but to deal Skubal before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Detroit is beginning a 10-game homestand after losing four of five on the road. The Tigers are tied with the Kansas City Royals for last place in the American League Central.

Skubal made a surprisingly quick return from non-invasive surgery on his pitching elbow. He had the procedure done during the first week of May and made his first major league start since the operation on Saturday. He lasted 4 2/3 innings and 80 pitches against the Cleveland Guardians, giving up three runs (two earned) and five hits.

He walked one and struck out four in a 3-1 loss.

Skubal wasn't pleased with his outing.

"I need to be better, plain and simple. 'Just happy to be there,' that's a loser mentality to me," he said.

Skubal won't be competing for the Tigers much longer unless the team gets back in the playoff hunt.

"I don't think about (the trade-deadline implications) a lot," Skubal told the Detroit News. "I try not to let that consume me because I need to worry about what I'm doing today. That way I can go perform on Friday. Just worry how I stack five really good work days so I can go out there and be ready to compete.

"But there's also the reality part to it. Everybody, the whole room, needs to focus on winning tonight's game, winning a series, winning the next series and just let it snowball."

The Tigers didn't win either series on their road trip. Their lone victory came on Monday when Colt Keith hit three home runs in a 9-3 victory at Houston.

"The urgency is heightened based on the hole that we're in and where we are at with our win total," manager A.J. Hinch said of the homestand.

Skubal (3-3, 2.81 ERA) has an 8-2 record and 3.72 ERA in 11 career starts against the White Sox.

Chicago's starting pitcher on Friday, Erick Fedde (2-5, 4.50 ERA), is 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against the Tigers. He allowed two runs and four hits in four innings during a relief outing against Detroit on May 29.

Fedde had a disastrous May in which he posted a 9.00 ERA in five appearances. He has only given up one earned run in 12 2/3 innings across three June outings, including 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.

The White Sox are tied with Cleveland for first place in the AL Central despite the loss of slugger Munetaka Murakami, who had 20 homers before sustaining a hamstring injury against Detroit on May 29. Chicago has won five of its past eight games.

"They haven't skipped a beat," White Sox manager Will Venable said of his players. "I think it really speaks to what our offense was when we did have Mune. As good as he is, we're getting contributions from everywhere. I think that's evident now. You take him out of it and the guys are still performing well. Obviously, we want him back in that lineup, but the guys are doing a great job without him."

The latest player to come through for Chicago was Andrew Benintendi. His pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning on Thursday lifted the White Sox to a 5-1 win over the host New York Yankees, allowing Chicago to salvage the finale of a three-game series.

--Field Level Media