Ominous Tarik Skubal injury scratch already has Tigers fans fearing the worst

Tarik Skubal had Tigers fans holding their breath when he shook his throwing arm and called Dillon Dingler to the mound in his last start against the Braves. He had yet to hit 80 pitches with no outs in the bottom of the seventh. Although he'd given up a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, there was really no cause for concern until the mound visit.

Dingler was followed by AJ Hinch and Tigers trainers, who attended to Skubal but eventually left without issue. Skubal went on to strike out the side to conclude his start.

It was a terrifying moment, but updates that followed made it sound like a one-off. He threw a scheduled bullpen session on Friday without issue and was ready to go for Monday's opener against the Red Sox at Comerica.

Or so we thought. Just four hours before first pitch, Jon Heyman reported that Skubal was being scratched. He added that it was being treated as a precautionary move, but that's hardly reassuring to a Tigers fanbase that's had to watch a number of players go down over the last few weeks.

Tarik Skubal scratched from Tigers' opener vs. Red Sox after injury scare vs. Braves

Skubal admitted after his start against the Braves that he didn't really know what he'd felt in that moment. "Cramp is probably the wrong word," he said. "We've heard the word zinger, I guess, but it wasn't really like a nervy thing. I don't know."

"I think a lot of people here were (worried about it), but I don't think I was one of them," he added. "I felt like I would be all right after the game. There was some day-one soreness but that was it. I'll be all right."

It wouldn't be surprising to Tigers fans if Skubal had no say in today's decision, given that we all know what kind of competitor he is. So we'll still hold onto hope that it really was just made out of an abundance of caution.

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