The Detroit Tigers lost Tarik Skubal.
And then the Tigers lost to the Boston Red Sox.
A bullpen failure resulted in the Tigers’ 5-4 loss to the Red Sox on Monday, May 4, in the opener of the three-game series at Comerica Park. Before the game, Skubal was scratched from his schedule start and placed on the injured list with loose bodies in his left elbow, requiring surgery.
There isn’t a timetable for Skubal’s return.
The Red Sox scored all five of their runs off right-handed reliever Ricky Vanasco and left-handed reliever Enmanuel De Jesus in the seventh inning, which included a leadoff walk from Vanasco and a misplay from right fielder Wenceel Pérez. The Tigers rallied for two runs after a 28-minute rain delay in the eighth inning, but the comeback attempt fell short.
The Tigers (18-18) and Red Sox (14-21) meet again Tuesday (6:40 p.m., Detroit SportsNet). Left-hander Framber Valdez, who has a 3.35 ERA in seven starts, is scheduled to start for the Tigers, opposed by right-hander Brayan Bello.
The loss dropped the Tigers to 6-8 since April 19.
In Monday’s game, the Tigers were limited to one hit over the first seven innings against Red Sox left-hander Payton Tolle. He allowed two runs (none earned) on one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts, throwing 83 pitches.
If not for the rain delay, Tolle would’ve been able to pitch in the eighth inning – and possibly the ninth inning.
The Tigers broke up Tolle’s perfect game in the fifth inning, when Riley Greene pulled a down-and-in sinker for a leadoff double into the right-field corner, only for the next three batters to strand Greene in scoring position.
Mistakes led to the Tigers’ two runs in the sixth inning.
A Colt Keith hit-by-pitch and a Jahmai Jones walk put two runners on with one out in the sixth, then a throwing error by catcher Carlos Narváez on a pickoff attempt allowed both runners to end up in scoring position.
Matt Vierling hit a broken-bat grounder to third base, but third baseman Andruw Monasterio’s off-balance throw to home plate sailed past Narváez – and both runners scored for a 2-0 lead.
It didn’t last long.
Without Skubal, the Tigers turned to a bullpen-only game for the second game in a row. Once again, left-handed reliever Tyler Holton started as the opener.
This time, right-hander Ty Madden – called up from Triple-A Toledo as Skubal’s replacement – took down the majority of the innings in the bulk reliever role.
The 26-year-old followed Holton’s scoreless first inning with five scoreless innings on 81 pitches, carrying the Tigers through the sixth inning.
Madden registered seven strikeouts, and surrendered just four hits without any walks.
The momentum came to a screeching halt in the seventh inning, as the Tigers’ below-average bullpen was exposed.
It started with Vanasco walking the leadoff hitter – and two batters later, Jarren Duran jogged around the bases after skying a middle-middle fastball for a three-run home run.
The homer to left flipped the scoreboard for a 3-2 Red Sox lead.
A misplay from Pérez in right field then resulted in a one-out double from Masataka Yoshida, which ultimately led to two more runs from the Red Sox after De Jesus replaced Vanasco.
Those two runs, both with De Jesus on the mound: Wilyer Abreu hit an RBI single off a two-strike cutter above the strike zone for a 4-2 lead, then Marcelo Mayer hit an RBI single off a two-strike cutter over the heart of the plate for a 5-2 lead.
Of the five runs, the first four were charged to Vanasco’s tab.
The Tigers flirted with a comeback in the eighth inning, thanks to Dillon Dingler’s two-RBI double against right-handed reliever Garrett Whitlock.
Dingler trimmed the Tigers’ deficit to 5-4 by dumping Whitlock’s two-strike slider below the zone into the left-field corner, driving in Keith (single) from second base and Vierling (walk) all the way from first.
But the Tigers were shut down in the ninth inning.
Left-handed reliever Aroldis Chapman slammed the door on the Tigers with three outs in a row: Spencer Torkelson (strikeout), Pérez (groundout) and Hao-Yu Lee (flyout).
Before Chapman’s dominance, right-handed reliever Kenley Jansen – day-to-day with a right groin/lower abdomen issue – took the mound for the Tigers for the first time in five days.
Jansen worked around a walk with a double play in a 10-pitch scoreless ninth inning.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers pitching chaos washed away in loss to Boston Red Sox