If Detroit Tigers rookie Tarik Skubal wanted to make a statement, he did just that Thursday against the Boston Red Sox.
He struggled in July, recording a 5.86 ERA over 27⅔ innings and five starts. The underling numbers were strong — three walks and 23 strikeouts — but he conceded nine home runs, including three in each of his past two outings.
On Thursday, though, Skubal delivered his first scoreless start since May 30 against the New York Yankees. He carried the Tigers (53-58) through five innings to help with an 8-1 win — and series victory — in the finale at Comerica Park.
“I didn’t put any more pressure (on myself),” Skubal said. “There was no more emphasis on this one as opposed to another win. I’m just glad that our team won and we won the series against a really good team. That’s where I’m at. I just did my part to help our team win today, and that’s what I try to do every time I take the ball.”
Detroit is 44-34 since May 8 and 13-7 since the All-Star break.
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The top four batters in Boston’s lineup — Enrique Hernandez, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts — went 1-for-10 with one walk and three strikeouts against Skubal, who allowed five hits in all. He struck out four batters, including Martinez twice, with a 97 mph fastball in the first and a 95 mph fastball in the third.
Skubal threw 53 of 91 pitches for strikes.
“I wanted to attack these guys up in the zone with the fastball but then kept them off-balance with everything else,” Skubal said. “They’re a really good fastball hitting team, especially in fastball counts. They do a really good job of hitting those pitches. Being able to throw off-speed in those counts and attack up in the zone with my four-seam fastball was big for me.”
No. 9 hitter Marwin Gonzalez, a stalwart of manager AJ Hinch’s days in Houston, singled in the fifth, putting Skubal’s resiliency to the test with Hernandez, Devers and Martinez on deck. Hinch got righty reliever Kyle Funkhouser warming in case Skubal couldn’t escape.
But all three batters flied out to conclude Skubal’s 20th start this season.
“He doesn’t waver,” Hinch said. “Mentally, he’s very strong and has a plan. He incorporated a wide array of pitches that he needed. He went to a slow curveball. He went to a couple changeups. I saw him throw a 3-2 changeup to Devers. He fouled it off, left-on-left. Obviously the good fastball today really set a good tone. He came up with big strikeouts when he was dealing with traffic.”
Scoring eight
The Tigers scored first and never looked back, thanks to Robbie Grossman’s leadoff home run. He exited with a left elbow contusion after the second inning after being hit by a pitch from starter Martin Perez, who completed 1⅓ innings before getting pulled.
In the second, Victor Reyes tripled and scored on Zack Short’s sacrifice fly. Schoop put the Tigers ahead 3-0 with a bases-loaded groundout off reliever Phillips Valdez. Willi Castro, who had singled earlier in the inning was running on contact and eliminated the chance for a play at the plate.
When Derek Hill followed with his single to left, Castro aggressively turned the corner at second base and advanced to third. On the throw, Hill moved up to second base. Grossman’s hit by pitch loaded the bases for Schoop.
“There was a lot of good today because of the quality at-bats that we had from the top down,” Hinch said. “Everybody contributed.”
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Three more runs scored in the fifth inning for a 6-0 lead.
Jeimer Candelario delivered a one-run ground-rule double to center, his 28th double this season, to score School. Reyes then cleared the bases with a triple to the right-center gap.
Schoop’s RBI single in the sixth and Reyes’ RBI force out in the seventh made it 8-0.
Reyes became the first Tiger to record multiple triples in a game since Ian Kinsler on July 17, 2017. He became the second MLB player to accomplish the feat this season, joining Minnesota’s Louis Arraez (June 25 vs. Cleveland). As a switch hitter, he is the first MLB player since Dmitri Young on May 6, 2003, to hit a triple from each side of the plate in the same game.
“I’ve been working hard for something like that,” Reyes said. “What is important to me is that I make contact with the ball. Hit the ball, and then one of these days, the ball is going to fall. But the most important thing is that we won the game and also won the series.”
Schoop leads the American League with 37 multi-hit games.
Castro’s defense
After Castro’s single and speed in the second inning, he flashed his glove in the fourth on a grounder from Kevin Plawecki. The ball rolled to the shortstop side of second, so Castro ranged across the diamond in pursuit.
The 24-year-old backhanded the ball and fired across his body to Schoop at first for the second out.
“There’s a lot of good things that Willi contributed today,” Hinch said. “Great defensive play, a couple of hits, good base running. He had some normal plays that won’t get talked about with the pop-ups in the shift. When you contribute to a win, you feel pretty good about yourself.”
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Known for his defensive woes, Castro made one of the best plays of his career. He entered Thursday with minus-11 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) at second base and minus-2 DRS at shortstop this season.
Last year, Castro had minus-8 DRS at shortstop and minus-2 DRS at third base.
Bullpen shines
Once Skubal finished his day, the bullpen kept the Red Sox at bay for the remaining four innings, bringing its scoreless streak to 23⅓ innings before Boston broke through on Alex Verdugo’s sac fly in the eighth. It was the franchise’s longest streak since 25 consecutive innings from Aug. 26-31, 2007, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
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The Tigers turned to Funkhouser for a perfect sixth inning, and left-hander Ian Krol pitched the seventh. Righty Erasmo Ramirez pitched the eighth and ninth, giving up one run on three hits and one walk.
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.