The Detroit Tigers suffered a 10-3 loss to the Red Sox, with Framber Valdez giving up seven earned runs. The game escalated when Valdez hit Trevor Story after allowing two home runs, leading to his ejection.
The News' Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers' 10-3 loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday:
I mean, what an absolute debacle. Forget the 10 runs (seven earned) that Framber Valdez coughed up, the day after he became the de facto ace of the Tigers staff. Bad nights are going to happen, and that one happened.
Valdez, though, decided to make an awful situation even worse when he followed up back-to-back moon-shot homers by Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu leading off the fourth inning by hitting Trevor Story square in the back on the very next pitch, a 94-mph fastball. Story, understandably, was miffed at how that particular story unfolded, he said as much, and the benches cleared â before, ultimately, Valdez was ejected by the umps.
Now, nobody but Valdez truly knows if Valdez did it intentionally, though, we are all entitled to our opinion â and my opinion just happens to take into account that this is a guy who eight months ago got so hot after giving up a home run that he purposely crossed up his own catcher. Valdez barely flinched after this plunking. Dillon Dingler's head dropped. AJ Hinch didn't seem to contest the ejection much. The whole scene was one big shrugging emoji.
Oddly, one of the most upset people in the ballpark seemed to be Detroit SportsNet analyst Andy Dirks, who was incensed by the ejection, saying there were no warnings issued (warnings aren't required), saying it put the Tigers bullpen in an awful spot (Valdez did that just fine on his own), and saying the were allowed to lobby for Valdez's exit (I'd love to know which Red Sox player lobbied for that; surely, it couldn't have been a hitter).
The final score was 10-3 in favor of the Red Sox.
Framber Valdez was ejected after hitting Trevor Story with a pitch.
The benches cleared after Framber Valdez hit Trevor Story following back-to-back home runs allowed.
Framber Valdez gave up seven earned runs during the game.
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He let it go, eventually, but it was a bizarre hill for Dirks to die on. (Jason Benetti parroted some of Dirks' beefs, but with less conviction â like a lawyer defending a client he knows is guilty.) And moments like this do nothing to change many fans' perception that this is what you sometimes get when teams take near-total control over their own broadcasts. The transition to the MLB Media umbrella, and Detroit SportsNet, has been better than I expected. Clean graphics. Good humor. Rain Delay Questions. But that, well, that was not a particularly good look.
Tuesday was the first day, P.S. (Post Skubal). On Wednesday, he'll have his left elbow scoped. Sometime in August or September, he'll return to the Tigers. But will the Tigers be able to tread water and stay afloat in the American League Central until he comes back? That's the great unknown. (And it's what I discussed on the Tigers Today podcast with 97.1 The Ticket's Jeff Riger.)
We all know the worth of Skubal, the two-time Cy Young winner, to the Tigers. But this stat really spells it out. Since the start of the 2024 season, here's how the Tigers have fared in the regular season:
For all you math majors out there, that's a .667 winning pitcher with Skubal on the mound, and .497 when anyone else starts. Woof. The sky's not falling yet (what say you, Wojo?), but I'd recommend a good umbrella.
(Season total in parentheses)
â¶ Matt Vierling (2)
â¶ Brenan Hanifee
â¶ Ceddanne Rafaela
â¶ The Motor City Connect kid who caught this ball. The bat flip was swagger; the catch was super swagger.
â¶ Game 38: Red Sox at Tigers, 6:40 Wednesday, Detroit SportsNet, 97.1
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers recap, Game 37: One thing I didn't love, and another thing