Fastball

Detroit Tigers Ace Stamps Cy Young Case as He Enters Team History

Left-hander Tarik Skubal dominated the Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon and moved into an elite class in team history.

Brady Farkas

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) delivers a pitch against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Guaranteed Rate Field on Aug 24.
Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) delivers a pitch against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Guaranteed Rate Field on Aug 24. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon as Tarik Skubal stamped his case for the American League Cy Young Award.

Skubal went a career-high 8.0 innings, giving up just one run on four hits. He walked none and struck out eight. He's now 16-4 on the season with a 2.51 ERA.

The left-hander also joined an exclusive group in team history, according to @TigersPR on social media:

Tarik Skubal is the 4th LHP in Tigers history to strike out 200-or-more batters in season, joining Mickey Lolich (seven times), Hal Newhouser (twice) and Matthew Boyd (once).

It's been an incredible season for Skubal, who has fanned 201 batters in 168.1 innings. Recently, Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees called him the best pitcher in the game.

The 27-year-old is a former ninth-round draft pick out of Seattle University. He made his debut back in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and is 39-31 lifetime with a 3.45 ERA.

He missed approximately half the season last year with injury but has come back with a vengeance as the Tigers attempt to exit their rebuild. Detroit enters play on Sunday at 69-68 on the year. That's good enough for fourth place in the American League Central, but is also just 5.0 games back of the third and final wild card spot.

The Tigers and Red Sox will finish out their series on Sunday afternoon with first pitch coming at 1:40 p.m. ET. The Red Sox will start Cooper Criswell on the mound while the Tigers haven't named a starter as of this posting.

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Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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