CLEVELAND — Tarik Skubal will have better nights.
The rookie left-hander gave up three long home runs in four innings in the Tigers' 11-3 loss to Cleveland Saturday night.
It was the Tigers' third straight loss.
Skubal, who limited Cleveland to two runs in 5 1/3 innings six days ago, didn’t have the same life on his pitches. His fastball velocity was down from an average of 94 to 93 mph. Also, the spin rates on his secondary pitches were down significantly.
He gave up a two-run home run to Roberto Perez on a 91-mph fastball in the second. Cesar Hernandez, who doubled in the first inning, lined a hanging split-change deep into the seats in left field in the third inning.
Then in the fourth, with two outs and two on, Jordan Luplow hit a 94-mph fastball 432 feet into the center-field bleachers. Skubal got a swinging strike one on Luplow with the the same pitch. He appeared to shake off the sign from catcher Grayson Greiner and threw the fastball again. Ka-boom.
Those three homers traveled a combined distance of 1,261 feet.
The one bright moment of the game for the Tigers was provided by rookie right-hander Alex Lange. Just activated off the taxi squad to replace the injured Julio Teheran (shoulder strain), Lange made a nice memory for himself.
In his big league debut, Lange retired the heart of Cleveland's order — Jose Ramirez on a grounder to first, Eddie Rosario on a grounder to short and he capped his day by striking out Franmil Reyes.
The Tigers continue to struggle on offense. They came into the game with the second-lowest run total in the American League (24). Only Cleveland had scored less, until Saturday. The Tigers came in ranked 11th in average (.211) and 10th in slugging (.368).
Cleveland right-hander Aaron Civale didn’t let the Tigers off the mat. He faced the minimum 18 hitters through six innings. Robbie Grossman singled in the first and Nomar Mazara singled in the fifth — both were erased on double-plays.
Grossman led off the seventh with his first home run as a Tiger, the lone blemish on Civale’s 7 2/3-inning gem. Grossman had three of the Tigers' five hits.
Jeimer Candelario, who was in an 0-for-11 skid, hit a two-run home run in the ninth.
Reliever Bryan Garcia epitomized the frustration that is starting to bubble as the Tigers fell to 3-5 on the young season. He got the first two outs in the sixth, before walking Perez and Andres Gimenez. Garcia didn’t get a couple of borderline calls from Kerwin Danley and was visibly upset.
His frustration doubled when he hung a 2-2 slider to Luplow. It looked like he’d hit his second three-run homer of the game, but, after a long video review, it was ruled a double. The ball hit off the yellow border atop the left-center field wall.
Garcia got Hernandez to hit a ground ball to Miguel Cabrera at first but Garcia was late getting to the bag and then missed it with his foot after taking the toss from Cabrera.
Cleveland finished with five homers, the last two off lefty Tyler Alexander. Reyes hit a solo homer off him in the seventh and Gimenez hit a two-run shot off him in the eighth.
Alexander has given up three homers in 3 2/3 innings this season.
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