Monday’s Tigers-Red Sox will feature a pair of left-handed starters. One of them has looked like a bonafide ace this season, with a monster strikeout rate and the highest WAR total in the league. The other has struggled with home runs, and is largely inconsistent from start to start.
Somehow, Matthew Boyd and Chris Sale have traded places in 2019.
After mixing in a handful of curveballs in his first couple starts, Boyd has essentially become a two-pitch pitcher. He is throwing either a four-seam fastball or a slider more than 85 percent of the time, and the results have been spectacular.