Coming into the season Tarik Skubal was widely considered a potential breakout candidate, and the Detroit Tigers left-hander was a popular pick to win the American League Cy Young Award.
He’s done nothing but live up to the hype since, and Saturday he put the Red Sox through the ringer.
Facing perhaps the best pitcher they’ll see all season, the Red Sox were no match for the Detroit Tigers ace, managing only a solo home run in an otherwise clinical 2-1 defeat.
The loss ensures the Red Sox will remain at least 3.5 games below the playoff cutline entering Sunday.
Boston got the upper hand on Skubal early when Tyler O’Neill hit a solo home run in the top of the first. The shot was O’Neill’s 25th of the season and gave Boston a 1-0 lead, but the Cy Young favorite quickly turned the page and smothered the Red Sox from there.
Starting with two outs in the top of the first after O’Neill’s home run, Skubal faced two batters over the minimum through the end of the eighth inning. He allowed a single in the second to Romy Gonzalez, who was immediately thrown out trying to take second, and in the third he committed his only other real miscue, allowing a single to Jarren Duran and throwing the ball away, allowing the speedy Red Sox outfielder to take second.
There was also a single to Connor Wong in the fifth, who was quickly erased by a double play, and Duran reached on an error by the shortstop in the sixth. Beyond that, Skubal looked every bit like the pitcher who is widely considered the favorite to earn his first career Cy Young.
The 27-year-old lefty finished with one run allowed on four hits and no walks over eight innings. He also struck out eight,. becoming the first pitcher in the majors to record 200 strikeouts on the season.
With Skubal pitching as well as he did, the Red Sox needed a special night from Nick Pivetta.
Pivetta certainly pitched well enough to give the Red Sox a chance. He allowed two runs on six hits and a walk over six innings, striking out six while drawing 12 whiffs. All of Detroit’s damage came in the bottom of the second, when Spencer Torkelson singled, Zach McKinstry doubled and then Trey Sweeney drove in both with a two-run double to make it 2-1.
Though they weren’t charged with any errors, the Red Sox defense didn’t do Pivetta any favors during that stretch, and once Skubal had the lead there wasn’t much more Pivetta or any Red Sox pitcher could have done.
After Pivetta was done the Red Sox bullpen did enjoy a solid bounce back from Friday’s roller coaster performance. Greg Weissert and Rich Hill combined to throw a scoreless seventh, picking off two Detroit runners on the base paths in the process, and Hill followed that with a perfect eighth to give him 2.2 scoreless innings since his return to the majors earlier this week.
That kept it a one-run game going into the top of the ninth, but while Duran made things interesting for a moment with a deep fly ball that ultimately curled just foul, Tigers left-hander Tyler Holton was able to close the door for his sixth save of the season.