Red Sox’s Garrett Crochet Loses Ground to Tigers’ Tarik Skubal In Cy Young Race

Through no fault of his own, Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet is watching his Cy Young Award chances slip away.

That’s because Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, continues to set himself apart on the mound.

Skubal lowered his ERA to 2.32 and added 10 strikeouts in Detroit’s 1-0 win Tuesday over the Houston Astros. In doing so, he became the first pitcher with 200 strikeouts this season. Crochet is a close second with 196.

Crochet and Skubal are tied for the most innings pitched in the AL (159 1/3). But Skubal holds the edge between the two in WAR (5.9 to 4.8), WHIP (0.87 to 1.07) and K/9 (11.3 to 11.1)

Crochet is trying to become the first Red Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young Award since Rick Porcello in 2016.

But Skubal might be too hard to handle. He outdueled Astros ace Hunter Brown in Tuesday’s win, with the Houston right-hander throwing six shutout innings and striking out six.

“In these type games, when you have two of the best in the league going, every at-bat is magnified, every mistake is magnified, every play seems like it’s worth double,” manager A.J. Hinch said Tuesday, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck.

“Great game from start to finish,” added Skubal, per Beck.

As for Crochet, he’s scheduled to return to the mound Saturday at Yankee Stadium for the third game of a four-game set this weekend in the Bronx.

The Red Sox woke up Wednesday one game behind the Yankees in the American League Wild Card standings following Tuesday’s night’s 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Boston has lost three straight while New York has won four in a row to surge past the Red Sox in the standings.