This story was originally published by Dead Spin
The Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers are on the outside looking in for an American League wild-card playoff berth.
Both teams are clinging to the belief they can make a run in September. They’ll complete a three-game series in Detroit with Sunday afternoon’s rubber game.
The Red Sox and Tigers are trying to chase down the Minnesota Twins, who hold the third wild-card spot. Boston is 3 1/2 games out entering Sunday, while Detroit is five back.
The Red Sox (70-66) won the series opener in extra innings on Friday. The Tigers (69-68) responded with a 2-1 victory on Saturday.
Tarik Skubal, the favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award, pitched a career-high eight innings in Detroit’s win.
“We’re going to keep it the same as we have all year,” Skubal said. “We need to focus on winning each day’s game. We need to win (Sunday) and win the series.”
The Red Sox haven’t been able to string more than two wins together since the first week of August.
“We stay the course,” manager Alex Cora said. “We actually believe we can do more. … Now we go. We’ve got to play better baseball but it should be fun the rest of the way.”
Tyler O’Neill’s first inning home run was the only offense Boston generated on Saturday.
“That’s elite stuff,” O’Neill said. “I was definitely battling up there against him. I was just trying to get something over the plate I could handle. That was a good one but it was pretty shut down after that.”
Cooper Criswell (5-4, 4.34 ERA) is expected to start the series finale for the Red Sox. He pitched 3 1/3 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, giving up one run and five hits in the 6-3 win.
In five appearances in August, Criswell allowed 10 runs in 14 innings for a 6.43 ERA. He walked three more batters — nine in all — than the six he struck out. Criswell has faced the Tigers once in his career, collecting a victory on June 1 when he gave up one run on four hits in five innings of the 6-3 game.
The Tigers have not listed a starting pitcher for Sunday.
Detroit is certain to stock its lineup with left-handed hitters against the right-handed Criswell.
“You’re going to get the (platoon) advantage a ton with just the way the league is comprised. I mean, you just have more right-handed pitchers than left-handed pitchers, more right-handed starters than left-handed starters,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s a fun lineup to write against a right-handed pitcher, and then you’re staring down at their bullpen wondering: When are they going to get a lefty up? And what is the situation going to be?”
Hinch gave outfielder Kerry Carpenter the day off on Saturday. Carpenter had four RBIs in Friday’s game, including a three-run homer off left-hander Brennan Bernardino. It was just the second hit by Carpenter off a lefty this season in 22 official at-bats.
“It’s a tough matchup,” Hinch said. “He did a good job of hanging in there and taking a good approach.”
Detroit snapped a two-game losing streak on Saturday after posting a season-high six game winning streak to move into the fringes of the wild-card race.
–Field Level Media
