Skubal dominates Red Sox as Tigers honor 1984 World Series champs with 2-1 win

DETROIT (AP) — Tarik Skubal allowed one run in eight innings and struck out eight to become the fourth Detroit left-hander with 200 strikeouts in a season as the Tigers celebrated the franchise's 1984 World Series championship with a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Jack Morris threw the ceremonial first pitch to Lance Parrish, and Skubal (16-4) gave a performance that would have fit onto Morris' resume. He allowed Tyler O’Neill’s first-inning homer, but Boston only hit three singles after that as Skubal made it through the eighth for the first time.

“It was a little fitting that it was the 1984 night and that's the deepest I've pitched into a game,” he said.

Skubal joined Hal Newhouser, Mickey Lolich and Matthew Boyd as the team's only left-handers to strike out 200 in a season. He now has 201, and could be a month away from something Morris never did — winning a Cy Young.

“Tarik is a special player,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He's anchored this staff all season. He has gotten a lot of attention, but he keeps doing his work. I get to see all of it, not just the eight innings tonight or the routine seven innings, but the dominance, the strikeouts, the low hits, the low walks and the low ERA.”

Tyler Holton pitched the ninth for his sixth save as the Tigers moved within 1 1/2 games of Boston for fourth in the American League wild-card race.

“(Skubal) is amazing — he should probably win the Cy Young,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “That means we need to come out tomorrow and win the series.”

Boston's Nick Pivetta (5-10) allowed two runs on six hits and a walk in six innings.

After O'Neill's homer, the Tigers took the lead with two runs in the second.

Spencer Torkelson hit a one-out single and Zach McKinstry extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games with a double. Trey Sweeney hit a fly ball to left ball that Rob Refsnyder couldn't play against the wall, driving in two with a double.

Hinch credited his third base coach, Joey Cora, with the decision to send McKinstry to the plate.

“We've talked all year about being aggressive,” Hinch said. “There have been a few outs at home, but you have to take risks to make those plays. That's part of our identity.”

Alex Cora said he wasn’t surprised that Joey Cora — his older brother — made the decision to send McKinstry to the plate.

“They took a gamble with the runner at third — that third base coach is very aggressive,” Alex Cora said, never mentioning his brother by name. “We knew that coming in, of course. Not every third base coach would send that runner, but he makes decisions based on catching people off guard.”

The Tigers got a pair of singles in the seventh, but both Ryan Kreidler and Parker Meadows were picked off first. Meadows was caught by 44-year-old Rich Hill, the only player on either roster who was born when the Tigers last won the World Series.

Kreidler made up for his mistake in the eighth, retiring Triston Casas with a jump throw from foul territory behind third.

Skubal didn't even expect to be on the mound for the eighth.

“It was a special night, with the 1984 team in the ballpark, and the crowd was incredible," Hinch said. “They were giving him a standing ovation after the seventh, and I was trying to say ‘No, no, you’re going back out there for the eighth.' ”

UP NEXT

The teams finish the three-game series on Sunday with Detroit RHP Ty Madden (0-0, 1.80 ERA) making his second start against RHP Cooper Criswell (5-4, 4.34).

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Boston starter's name to Nick Pivetta, instead of Nick Pavetta.

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Boston Red Sox's Masataka Yoshida swings a bat in the dugout in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Boston Red Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta throws against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Boston Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill throws against the Detroit Tigers in the seventh inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers third baseman Ryan Kreidler throws to first base for an out on a Boston Red Sox Treston Casas ground ball in the eighth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, left, celebrates with Trey Sweeney after a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal throws against the Boston Red Sox in the sixth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal throws against the Boston Red Sox in the seventh inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal reacts to striking out Boston Red Sox's Ceddanne Rafaela in the eighth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

PARIS (AP) — The curtain came down on Paris’ feel-good summer with a grand parade of French athletes on the Champs Elysées on Saturday after the country threw one last party to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Parade of Champions included 460 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including 120 Paris medalists. About 70,000 spectators lined up on the parade’s route on the French capital’s famed avenue that ended on a ring-shaped stage around the Arc de Triomphe monument. Hundreds of the Games’ volunteers, Olympic and Paralympic representatives and city officials also attended.

Organizers delivered a celebration of French sport on par with the spectacular and audacious opening and closing of the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic ceremonies.

“Among us, we call it the 5th ceremony,” Thierry Reboul, the director of ceremonies, told French media. “We tried to include the same elements to this show as we did to the four ceremonies this summer: surprise, emotion and sharing.”

President Emmanuel Macron and his new prime minister, Michel Barnier, also attended. During the ceremony, Macron decorated with state honors 120 French Olympians, who had medaled in Paris, including the star swimmer and judoka, Léon Marchand and Teddy Riner. In all, 187 French athletes were bestowed with the Legion of Honor or the National Order of Merit on Saturday, but not all participated in the parade.

Macron's celebration of the Olympic spirit that he said has produced “national harmony” came against the backdrop of a harsh political reality and a deeply divided society following an inconclusive legislative elections in July, just before the start of the Paris Games.

Faced with a hung parliament, social tensions and ballooning debt, Macron earlier this month appointed Barnier — a veteran conservative and the European Union's former Brexit negotiator — to form a new government.

Macron's decision caused fury in the left-wing coalition that won the most seats in the National Assembly, but not enough to govern alone, leaving France’s powerful lower house of parliament with no party holding a majority.

Barnier said he will present his ministers next week. The New Popular Front coalition vowed protests and censure against Macron and the new government, insisting that the president has dismissed the popular vote that gave the leftist alliance the mandate to govern.

Smoke in colours of the French national flag rises near the Arc de Triomphe on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Sarah Meyssonnier, Pool via AP)

Antoine Dupont, gold medalist in Rugby 7s poses with olympic volunteers for a selfie on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, center, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris.(AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics march on the Champs Elysees with French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. Organizers have promised a celebration of French sport on par with the spectacular and audacious opening and closing of the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic ceremonies. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics and French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics take part in a parade in front of the Arc de Triomphe monument on the Champs Elysees, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Andre Pain/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Athletes from different delegations parade during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

FILE - Team Greece travels by boat along the Seine river in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, file)

FILE - Alpha Jets from the Patrouille de France fly over the Champs-Elysees as delegations arrive for the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paralympics, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, file)

FILE - Fireworks signal the end of the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony taking place at the Stade de France, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)