Rob Refsnyder owns critical mistake as Red Sox fall to Tigers

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Red Sox

Refsnyder misread a ball in the outfield that allowed the Tigers’ only two runs of the game to score.

Rob Refsnyder made a costly mistake in a Red Sox loss last Saturday. Duane Burleson/Getty Images

Rob Refsnyder’s early misread in the outfield proved very costly for the Red Sox on Saturday.

In the bottom of the second inning, Detroit slugger Trey Sweeney hit a ball to the outfield wall. Refsnyder misjudged the distance on the hit and failed to make a relatively routine catch on the warning lane. As a result, two Tigers scored.

Detroit went on to beat the Red Sox, 2-1, scoring its only two runs on the error. A non-Major League Baseball-affiliated algorithm estimated that Refsnyder had one 100 percent chance of catching the ball.

“I should catch it every time,” Refsnyder told reporters after the game. “I apologized to Nick [Pivetta]. Disappointed I didn’t catch it … the wind took it a lot longer than I thought, and yes, that’s all on me.”

Boston had plenty of time to make up for the poor defensive play, but struggled to generate any offense against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. Skubal worked eight innings, striking out eight Red Sox batters and allowing just four hits. His only real blemish came in the first inning, when Tyler O’Neill launched a solo home run to open the night’s scoring.

After the O’Neill blast, Boston’s bats went quiet — despite solid pitching of its own from Pivetta, who threw six innings and recorded six strikeouts.

Without the run support on the other side, Pivetta took another loss, and Boston’s American League wild-card hopes took another hit. The Red Sox are 3.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins for the final wild card spot.