Tarik Skubal is being a lot tougher on himself than Tigers fans after rocky return

Tarik Skubal hasn't quite looked like himself since his return from surgery. While his stuff is very much still there and he's struck out batters at his usual clip in his last two starts, he's clearly labored more through innings and has been tagged with a very uncharacteristic number of home runs — six in three starts.

The Tigers have lost two of those three Skubal games. They managed to score just one in his first outing back, and then two in his latest.

So it's been easy — deserved, even — to pin the blame on the offense, the Tigers' most glaring deficiency throughout the season. Even though the Tigers are still posting a winning record this month, they're averaging less than two runs in losses.

Skubal has been described as the consummate competitor — a guy who just has that extra it factor. So it makes sense that he would take accountability for his shortcomings since coming off the IL.

"What matters right now is results," he said after giving up three homers in the Tigers' loss to the Yankees. "I haven't been good enough, and I haven't held up my side of the bargain in terms of what our team expects out of me, what I expect out of myself every time I'm out there."

Maybe we're still just too relieved to have him back, but he might be the only one being so hard on him.

Tarik Skubal was beating himself up after Tigers' 4-2 loss to Yankees

Sure, there was a time before Tarik Skubal was Tarik Skubal, when he was 24 and posting a 4.34 ERA in his rookie season (he even finished a game for the Tigers that year), but who can remember that when we have a back-to-back Cy Young winner at the front of the rotation? In other words, there was a time when fans might've been first to critique him, which were certainly aren't in anymore.

Skubal's not above criticism, no one is, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a Tigers fan who could truly blame him for those two losses since returning. We'll concede that the home runs have been troubling and out of character but, barring disaster (knock on wood), this guy will get all the goodwill fans can muster until he's no longer in a Tigers uniform.

Clearly, though, he doesn't need us to be disappointed in him. The guy is his own worst critic.

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