CLEVELAND (AP) — On his way to becoming one of baseball's best pitchers, Detroit's unquestioned ace and the AL's next Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal crossed paths with a veteran pitcher — another lefty — who took him under his wing. On Monday, Skubal will intersect with Matthew Boyd again. In one of those full-circle baseball stories seemingly ripped from a movie script, the former Tigers teammates will start against each other in Game 2 of the AL Division Series as Cleveland looks to take a 2-0 lead after shutting out Detroit in the opener.
Skubal vs. Boyd wasn't on anyone's bingo card. “Baseball is incredible,” said Tigers manager A.
J. Hinch, who had his own reunion last week in returning to Houston for the wild-card round. “It leads you to sometimes familiar places, and this one is leading us to a familiar face in a really big game against somebody who we all respect and admire.
” It would have been almost unimaginable a Skubal-Boyd matchup would ever take place, let alone on October’s grand stage. The 33-year-old Boyd's career was at a crossroads just months ago as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgery last year. His prospects were limited.
“Middle of June, I’m throwing showcases to teams and coaching kids’ Little League games,” Boyd said Sunday, reflecting on his journey. What happened next was as unexpected as Cleveland's run to an AL Central title. Boyd kept pushing, and helped by Skubal's encouragement from his recovery years earlier from the.