DETROIT (AP) — Two-time American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal will have surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow after being scratched from Monday's start against the Boston Red Sox.
Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters that the left-hander felt discomfort in his elbow on Sunday, less than a week after an injury scare against the Atlanta Braves. The 29-year-old — set to become a free agent next offseason — underwent tests that showed the loose bodies. The surgery hadn't yet been scheduled.
There is no immediate timetable for his return, though similar injuries usually require a two-to-three month recover period.
“From my understanding, you just go take it out,” Skubal told MLB.com. “I think length of the rehab is probably just getting your spring training buildup up again, getting your volume up. But the procedure itself I think is pretty simple as far as what I’ve been explained.”
Skubal pitched for the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic this spring but was careful with his workload, throwing in just one game before returning to spring training with the Tigers. He won a record salary arbitration case in February and is being paid $32 million this season, far exceeding the team's $19 million offer.
Skubal has a 3-2 record with a 2.70 ERA over seven starts this season, striking out 45 over 43 1/3 innings. The Tigers are currently tied for first place in the AL Central with an 18-17 record.
Skubal initially felt pain in his elbow last week against the Braves but stayed in the game. He rubbed his left arm after a 2-2 pitch to Matt Olson, drawing a visit from the trainer and Hinch. Skubal threw one warmup pitch, decided he was OK and struck out the side to end his night.
He allowed five hits, fanned seven and didn’t walk anyone.
The two-time All-Star won the AL Cy Young award in each of the last two seasons. He had an 18-4 record with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 2024 and was 13-6 with a 2.21 ERA and 241 strikeouts last year.
He's also been effective in the postseason with a 2-1 record, 2.04 ERA and 56 strikeouts over six starts.
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Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) talks to catcher Dillon Dingler (13) during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) rubs his arm during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Lawmakers in several southern states will meet this week to consider plans that could upend their congressional primaries and redraw U.S. House districts ahead of the November elections, as Republicans move quickly to capitalize on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
Special legislative sessions responding to the court ruling are to start Monday in Alabama and Tuesday in Tennessee. Louisiana lawmakers, who already are in session, also are looking at how to redraw their congressional districts. And President Donald Trump has urged more states to join in redistricting.
Civil rights activists have countered with rallies, protests and lawsuits challenging the new redistricting efforts.
Last week’s Supreme Court decision striking down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana has unleashed “a wave of nefarious actions” across states that threatens to disenfranchise Black voters, Alanah Odoms, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, said Monday.
Trump on Sunday encouraged more states to join in redistricting, saying in a social media post that Republicans could gain 20 House seats.
“We should demand that State Legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done,” Trump said.
The high court's ruling said Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black majority House district as it attempted to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The ruling significantly altered a decades-old understanding of the law and provided grounds for Republicans in various states to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats to Congress.
Legislative voting districts typically are redrawn only once a decade, after a census, to account for population changes. But Trump urged Texas Republicans last year to redraw U.S. House districts to give the party an advantage. Democrats in California responded by doing the same, and then other states joined in.
On Monday, Florida became the eighth state to enact new House districts ahead of midterm elections, as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he had signed a redrawn map passed by lawmakers last week that could help Republicans win as many as four additional House seats. The new map was immediately challenged in court Monday as a partisan gerrymander that violates a state constitutional provision against drawing districts that favor one political party over another.
All told, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats from new congressional districts in five states, while Democrats think they could pick up as many as 10 seats from new districts adopted in three states. The newly proposed redistricting in southern states could add to the Republicans' tally.
After last week's Supreme Court decision, Louisiana moved quickly to delay its May 16 congressional primary to allow time for lawmakers to approve new U.S. House districts. But Republicans have yet to unveil their planned revisions to district lines.
Democrats and civil rights groups have filed several lawsuits challenging the election suspension, including another suit filed Monday in federal court. They are encouraging people in Louisiana — where early voting already is underway — to go ahead and cast votes in the congressional primaries in case courts later allow them to be counted.
Rather than canceling the state's May 19 primaries, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey has called legislators into a special session to consider contingency plans for special primary elections in hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will let Alabama switch congressional maps ahead of the November midterms.
Federal judges previously ordered Alabama to use a court-selected map — with a second district that has a substantial number of Black voters — until a new map is drafted after the 2030 Census. Alabama appealed that decision and has asked the court, in light of the Louisiana ruling, to let it revert to a 2023 map drawn by Republican state lawmakers. That map would substantially alter the district now represented by Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat.
Democrats sharply criticized any attempt to change the House districts ahead of the looming elections.
“This special session is a blatant power grab by Republican leadership in Montgomery to eliminate seats held by Black Democrats,” said former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, a Democratic candidate for Alabama governor.
In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee also announced a special session starting Tuesday for the GOP-controlled Legislature to break up the state’s one Democratic-held House district, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis.
The move comes after a pressure campaign by Trump and other Republicans to reconfigure the state’s 9th Congressional District. Previous precedent in Voting Rights Act cases had prevented Republicans from spreading the district’s Democratic voters among neighboring conservative districts and making it winnable. But the law may no longer be an impediment.
“We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure our congressional districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee voters,” Lee said.
Clergy members concerned about plans to split Memphis’ congressional district came together Monday to denounce the move.
“This latest attempt at redistricting is not just about lines on a map, it is about misrepresentation,” said the Rev. Earle Fisher, a pastor at the Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church and the founder of Up the Vote 901, referring to the Memphis area code. “It’s about whether the voices of Black people in this state will be heard or hidden.”
The candidate qualifying period in Tennessee ended in March, and the primary election is scheduled for Aug. 6.
Loller reported from Nashville and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Jack Brook in New Orleans and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
