Boston Red Sox Bats Silenced In Loss To Detroit Tigers

It was a quiet day for the Boston Red Sox offense as they fell to 8-12 on the season after a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park. The Boston offense had its work cut out for it right from the jump with back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal on the mound for Detroit.

Skubal was his dominant self in the Detroit win, making it look easy against a Red Sox offense that has been prone to strikeouts through the first 20 games of the season. Overall, Skubal allowed just one run on four hits, striking out 10 Boston batters.

"He mixed up his pitches really well, he executed whenever he had to execute," Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras said of Skubal.

The Red Sox were not without chances against Skubal, though, threatening in the fifth inning. They loaded the bases with nobody out before Skubal escaped the jam, allowing just one run, thanks in part to a Connor Wong double-play ball.

Then, again, in the bottom of the sixth, Boston had runners on the corners and only one out with the heart of the order at the plate. Skubal struck out Contreras and Trevor Story before getting Wilyer Abreu to ground out to end the threat.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora pointed to the team chasing pitches out of the zone as the main culprit for the Red Sox failure to cash in on those opportunities, "We chased a lot today," Cora said. "We gotta get him in the zone, we have to chip away with aces, you have to make sure when you have your chances to cash in and get it close enough... but a run here, a run there, and it's a 4-3 game and you take your chances against the bullpen," he continued.