AJ Hinch explanation for pulling Tarik Skubal raises even more questions for Tigers fans

The Detroit Tigers found themselves on the heartbreaking end of an instant classic on Friday night, losing a 15-inning marathon — the longest winner-take-all game in baseball history — in Game 5 of the ALDS to the Seattle Mariners. The Tigers were so close to their first ALCS appearance since 2013; instead, they're headed home for a long, cold offseason.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that Game 5 only got to extra innings in the first place because of a late Mariners rally, one that left Tigers fans with some tough questions for manager AJ Hinch. Tarik Skubal was sensational over the first six innings, striking out a whopping 13 batters while allowing just one run. He secured the final out of the sixth by blowing a 101-mph fastball past Cal Raleigh on what was his 99th pitch of the evening. Given that his pitch count was still (barely) below 100, and given the importance of the game and the precarity of Detroit's bullpen, most onlookers assumed it would be Skubal who came back out for the seventh.

Instead, Hinch took his ace out, bringing Kyle Finnegan in to try and protect the lead. You can probably guess what happened next: Finnegan allowed a walk and a hit to put two men on with two men out, and after he was lifted in favor of lefty Tyler Holton, Mariners utility man Leo Rivas delivered the game-tying single.

From there, the Tigers bullpen buckled down, firing seven more scoreless innings and giving their offense ample opportunity to win the game. Detroit's moribund lineup, which did essentially nothing outside of Kerry Carpenter, deserves a healthy portion of the blame here.

After the game, though, all anyone wanted to know was why Skubal had been pulled at a more-than-reasonable pitch count. Hinch knew that his offense wasn't going to do all that much against this Mariners pitching staff, and yet he pulled the best pitcher in the world with a one-run lead in an elimination game. What gives? Hinch had an answer for reporters, but it's likely not one that fans will find satisfying.

"He emptied his tank," Hinch told reporters, making it sound as though it weren't solely his decision to end Skubal's day after the sixth. "He gave us everything he could."

In one sense, that would appear to settle that. This wasn't simply Hinch doing what he thought put his team in the best position to win; if Skubal himself said he was done, then there wasn't really a choice to be made. But an ace of Skubal's caliber asking out at less than 100 pitches raises questions on its own, and it's fair to wonder just how much Hinch's account is leaving out.

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AJ Hinch's explanation for pulling Tarik Skubal won't satisfy Tigers fans

If Hinch unequivocally said that Skubal told him he was done, there wouldn't be very much to be upset about. But "we both knew that he had one left" still leaves fans wondering just exactly how that decision was made. Did Skubal approach Hinch? Did Hinch approach Skubal? Who was it who actually made the decision that the sixth would be his final inning? And what was that conversation like?

All of which doesn't even get to why Skubal apparently didn't feel like he could go past the 100-pitch mark. No one could or should ever question the lefty's toughness, competitiveness or commitment to winning. He's a psychopath on the mound, and what he gave the Tigers should have been enough to get them a win regardless of whether he went out there for one more inning. But it's hard not to compare this moment to others involving pitchers of his caliber — especially for a fan base that grew accustomed to Jim Leyland letting Justin Verlander push his pitch count north of 120 or even 130 in the biggest moments back in the early 2010s.

Of course, times have changed, and pitchers aren't ridden the way they used to be. Which is for the best, to be clear, and could well be part of the reason why Skubal has been able to sustain his level of dominance into October. Still: The lefty averaged just a shade under 92 pitches per start during the regular season, and he eclipsed the 100-pitch mark only three times in 31 appearances. Giving him the seventh would've been sending him into uncharted territory, to say nothing of the fact that he had been putting the pedal to the floor and sitting triple-digits with his fastball over the prior couple of innings.

Considering the context, and the effort required to get through the first six, you can understand why Skubal may have felt spent. Still, you'd think that even, say, 75 percent of Skubal would give Detroit a better chance to win than 100 percent of Finnegan or anyone else the Tigers had to bring in after him. And the fact that some room for interpretation still remains will have all of Detroit playing what-if for months to come. Of course, score more than two runs in 15 innings and you wouldn't have had to worry about that, but I digress.