DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Stubal threw another bullpen session on Thursday, his third since his rehab program from elbow surgery began.
The two-time American League Cy Young Award winner underwent a non-invasive procedure on his left pitching elbow on May 6 to remove a loose body. He threw his latest bullpen session prior to Detroit's home game against Cleveland.
Manager A.J. Hinch called it a “great step” but stopped short of saying when Skubal might return to action.
“There are little hurdles to clear along the way when you come back from a procedure,” Hinch said. “As much as we described it as simple, it's still a procedure.”
Skubal used his full arsenal while throwing a total of 35 pitches, taking a breather in-between to simulate a break between innings.
“His velocity was as high as it's been since his throwing started,” Hinch said. “He sat down and came back and did like a simulated second inning. That's encouraging and it's full stuff.”
Skubal will travel with the team during its weekend series in Baltimore and throw another bullpen session. The team's medical and coaching staff will determine his next step afterward.
Skubal is 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA in seven starts this season. He'll be a free agent after the season.
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Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal watches from the dugout against the Cleveland Guardians during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An attorney who was present for the planned execution of Tony Carruthers in Tennessee on Thursday said it was called off after officials struggled to find a vein for an hour.
Maria DeLiberato, an attorney for Carruthers, said she saw Carruthers “wincing and groaning” and called it “horrible” to watch.
An email to a spokeswoman for the state corrections department was not immediately returned.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is scheduled to execute Tony Carruthers on Thursday after his attorneys questioned whether the state's lethal injection drugs had expired and courts denied requests to test DNA and fingerprint evidence or to deem him mentally incompetent.
Carruthers, 57, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the 1994 kidnappings and murders of Marcellos Anderson; his mother, Delois Anderson; and Frederick Tucker. He was forced to represent himself at trial after repeatedly complaining about court-appointed attorneys and threatening to harm several of them.
There was no physical evidence tying Carruthers to the killings, and he was convicted primarily on the basis of testimony from people who claimed to have heard him confess to or discuss the crimes.
They include a man who was later revealed to be a police informant and told media he was paid for his testimony. A co-defendant, James Montgomery, was originally sentenced to death along with Carruthers but was later resentenced and released from prison in 2015, according to court filings.
Authorities said Marcellos Anderson was a drug dealer, and Carruthers was trying to take over the illegal drug trade in their Memphis neighborhood. Carruthers' attorneys have said their client's “paranoia and delusions” prevented him from being able to cooperate with court-appointed counsel, but the judge viewed this behavior as willful.
The Tennessee Supreme Court said on appeal that Carruthers’ actions before the trial jury were offensive and self-destructive but the situation in which he found himself was one of his own making. If the execution goes forward as scheduled, Carruthers will be the first person to be executed after being forced to represent himself in more than a century, according to a clemency petition to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
In the petition, Carruthers' attorneys argue that the reason he was sentenced to death was because a medical examiner testified the victims were buried alive, going into excruciating detail for the jury. He later withdrew that claim and subsequent experts have said it was false.
Carruthers' attorneys have tried to show that he is incompetent to be executed. They claim in court filings that Carruthers believes the government is bluffing about executing him in order to coerce him into accepting a plea deal that exists only in his mind. That way, Carruthers believes, the government can avoid paying him what he thinks are millions of dollars it owes him. He is convinced that his own attorneys are part of a conspiracy against him and refuses to even speak with them, according to court filings.
The number of executions in the U.S. surged from 25 in 2024 to 47 last year, driven by a sharp increase in Florida. That state carried out 19 executions in 2025, up from one the previous year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. So far this year, four states have executed 13 people, and 11 other executions are scheduled including one Thursday evening in Florida.
It’s not unusual to see several executions over a short period of time. Last year, four people were executed over three days in March in Oklahoma, Florida, Louisiana and Arizona. Another five people were executed over a week in October in Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Florida and Indiana, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Tennessee began a new round of executions last year after a three-year pause following the discovery that the state was not properly testing lethal injection drugs for purity and potency.
An independent review later found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed in Tennessee since 2018 had been fully tested. The state attorney general’s office also conceded in court that two of the people most responsible for overseeing Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs “ incorrectly testified ” under oath that officials were testing the chemicals as required.
Bethany Mann, right, and Pat Halper, left, both of whom oppose the death penalty, greet one another outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the scheduled execution of Tony Von Carruthers Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Rev. Rick Laude enters the area reserved for those in support of the death penalty outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the scheduled execution of Tony Von Carruthers Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
People talk in the area reserved for those who are opposed to the death penalty outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the scheduled execution of Tony Von Carruthers Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Guards on horses are posted next to the area reserved for people opposed to the death penalty outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the scheduled execution of Tony Von Carruthers Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
This Tennessee Department of Correction photo shows inmate Tony Carruthers. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP)
