Tarik Skubal dominates, Tigers beat Red Sox 2-1

DETROIT (AP) — Tarik Skubal allowed one run in eight innings and struck out eight to become the fourth Detroit left-hander to reach 200 strikeouts in a season as the Tigers celebrated the franchise’s 1984 World Series championship with a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Jack Morris threw the ceremonial first pitch to Lance Parrish, and Skubal (16-4) delivered a performance that could have gone on Morris’ resume. He got Tyler O’Neill to hit a home run in the first inning, but Boston hit just three singles after that, as Skubal advanced into the eighth inning for the first time.

“It was kind of fitting that it was the night in 1984 and that’s the deepest I’ve thrown in a game,” he said.

Skubal joined Hal Newhouser, Mickey Lolich and Matthew Boyd as the only lefties on the team to have 200 strikeouts in a season. He now has 201 and could be a month away from doing what Morris never did: winning a Cy Young.

“Tarik is a special player,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “He’s been the backbone of this team all season. He’s gotten a lot of attention, but he continues to do his job. I can see it all, not just the eight innings tonight or the routine seven innings, but the dominance, the strikeouts, the weak hits, the weak walks and the low earned run average.”

Tyler Holton pitched the ninth inning for his sixth save as the Tigers moved to within 1 1/2 games of Boston for fourth place in the American League wild-card race.

“(Skubal) is unbelievable, he probably should win the Cy Young,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “That means we have to come in tomorrow and win the series.”

Boston’s Nick Pivetta (5-10) allowed two runs on six hits and one walk in six innings.

After O’Neill’s home run, the Tigers took the lead with two runs in the second inning.

Spencer Torkelson singled with one out and Zach McKinstry extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games with a double. Trey Sweeney hit a fly ball to left that Rob Refsnyder couldn’t play to the wall, driving in two runs with a double.

Hinch credited his third base coach, Joey Cora, with making the decision to send McKinstry to the plate.

“We’ve talked all year about being aggressive,” Hinch said. “We’ve had some home losses, but you have to take risks to make those plays. It’s part of who we are.”

Alex Cora said he wasn’t surprised that Joey Cora, his older brother, made the decision to send McKinstry to bat.

“They took a risk with the runner on third base — that third-base coach is very aggressive,” Alex Cora said, never mentioning his brother by name. “We knew that, of course. Not every third-base coach would put that runner out, but he makes decisions based on what’s going on.”

The Tigers got two singles in the seventh inning, but Ryan Kreidler and Parker Meadows were intercepted first. Meadows was caught by 44-year-old Rich Hill, the only player on the team born during the Tigers’ last World Series victory.

Kreidler made up for his error in the eighth, retiring Triston Casas with a jump shot from foul territory behind third base.

Skubal didn’t even expect to be on the mound for the eighth.

“It was a special night, with the ’84 team in the stadium, and the crowd was unbelievable,” Hinch said. “They gave him a standing ovation after the seventh, and I was trying to say, ‘No, no, you’re going to go back out there for the eighth.’”

FOLLOWING

The teams finish the three-game series Sunday with Detroit right-hander Ty Madden (0-0, 1.80 ERA) making his second start against right-hander Cooper Criswell (5-4, 4.34).