DETROIT — Judging by his reaction, Trea Turner thought he should have made the play. And if he had, well, who knows?
Maybe Ranger Suárez gets out of the fifth inning Tuesday night without allowing one run, let alone four. Maybe a duel between the prohibitive All-Star Game starting pitchers lives up to its billing through the middle innings. Heck, maybe the Phillies win again.
But Turner was unable to come up with a grounder to shortstop. It was ruled a hit, and it loaded the bases with nobody out in what turned out to be a bigger inning than Tigers ace Tarik Skubal ever needed to send the Phillies to a 4-1 loss at Comerica Park and snap their three-game winning streak.
» READ MORE: Busting out of his slump shows ‘maturity’ of Phillies’ Alec Bohm, who is on his way to his first All-Star Game
Suárez gave up a total of four runs in 20⅓ innings over four starts this month before yielding four in one inning in Detroit. The Tigers sent eight batters to the plate and got four hits, including Ryan Kreidler’s bases-loaded single to Turner, who let out a yell after booting the ball.
Two batters later, Andy Ibáñez lined a changeup to center field for a two-run single. Two batters after that, Riley Greene tripled into the right-field corner to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead.
In three weeks, when the All-Star Game gets underway in Texas, Suárez (2.01 ERA) might be starting for the National League against Skubal (2.32 ERA) for the American League. Maybe then the rest of the country will catch on to how good the two lefties have become.
For now, consider this a sneak preview. And for four innings, Suárez vs. Skubal came as advertised.
Suárez leaned on his sinker but mixed his pitches, as usual. He held the Tigers to three hits, including a bunt single, through four innings. And he nearly erased the bunt single, too, bouncing off the mound to glove Kreidler’s attempt and making an off-balance, albeit late throw to first base.
But if Suárez fits the profile of a crafty lefty, Skubal is a classic power pitcher. He dialed up his heater to the upper-90s, even hitting 100.7 mph on a pitch to Kyle Schwarber in the third inning.
» READ MORE: As Spencer Turnbull returns to starting rotation, he’ll face the Tigers — where he spent 10 years
After dominating for 2½ months, Skubal got touched up in each of his previous two starts. He gave up four runs in 6⅓ innings June 14 at Houston, then allowed four runs in four innings in Atlanta last week in his shortest outing of the season.
The Phillies had chances to get to him early. Bryce Harper rolled into a double play in the first inning. With two on and two out in the second, Cristian Pache struck out. Another two-on, two-out threat fizzled in the third inning when Skubal got Alec Bohm to ground out on a sinker.
From there, Skubal found his groove, retiring 12 of the last 14 batters before turning it over to the Tigers’ bullpen after seven innings.
Harper’s homer in the ninth against Tigers closer Jason Foley prevented the Phillies from getting shut out.
