Tarik Skubal outduels Ranger Suárez as Tigers snap Phillies’ three-game winning streak

DETROIT — Trea Turner isn’t sure if he had a play at third base or at first. He just wishes he caught the ball. Because if he did, 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 presumptive All-Star Game starting pitchers lives up to its billing. Heck, maybe the Phillies win again.

But Turner booted a slow grounder to his right at shortstop. It was ruled a hit, and it loaded the bases with nobody out in what turned out to be a bigger inning than Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal ever needs in a 4-1 Phillies loss at Comerica Park.

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“I’m not really sure what I was going to do,” Turner said after the Phillies’ three-game roll went kablooey. “I watched the replay a bunch. Part of me thinks I could’ve maybe got the guy at third. I probably would’ve tried throwing the ball to first base. I wish I would’ve just secured the ball. That’s really all I was trying to do.”

Suárez gave up a total of four runs in 20⅓ innings over four starts this month before yielding four in one inning in Detroit. After Turner was unable to come up with Ryan Kreidler’s grounder, Andy Ibáñez lined a Suárez changeup to center field for a two-run single. With two out, Riley Greene tripled into the right-field corner to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead.

The way Skubal pitched, it might as well have been 40-0.

Opponents have lined up their lefties against a Phillies offense that is powered by lefty sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. The Tigers are expected to use a lefty opener in the series finale Wednesday.

But Skubal isn’t a typical lefty. He’s a classic power pitcher, and at 27, he’s only scratching the surface of how good he will be. He dialed up his fastball to 100.7 mph on a pitch to Schwarber in the third inning and got 11 swings and misses with his bat-slowing changeup. He allowed three hits in seven innings and retired 13 of the last 14 batters.

“He’s up there, man. He’s good,” Turner said. “That changeup’s special. He’s got a great heater. We were talking about it on the bench. It just felt like nothing was in the middle of the zone. Everything was on the edges. Tip your cap, move on, try to win the series [Wednesday].”

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In three weeks, when the All-Star Game gets underway in Texas, Skubal (2.32 ERA) might be starting for the American League against Suárez (2.01) for the National League. Maybe then the rest of the country will catch on to how good the two lefties have become.

If this was a sneak preview, Suárez vs. Skubal came as advertised — at least for four innings. Neither team sustained much offense or cashed in on whatever opportunities they did get.

Suárez, a crafty lefty compared to Skubal’s raw power, mixed his pitches, as usual, and allowed three hits through four innings, including a bunt single. Even the changeup to Ibañez and the cutter to Greene weren’t bad pitches. The former caught a sliver of the outside part of the plate, while the latter was down around the knees.

“If the pitch [to Ibañez] was lower, maybe we would’ve had another thing happen on that at-bat, but he had a tremendous approach and he ended up getting a hit,” Suárez said through a team interpreter. “Things didn’t go as we wanted, but I felt that I threw good pitches.”

The Phillies had chances to get to Skubal early. Harper grounded 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 roll over a sinker.

From there, Skubal found his groove. All that stood between the Phillies and their third shutout of the season was Harper’s leadoff homer in the ninth inning against Tigers closer Jason Foley.

“That’s one of the better performances we’ve seen this year,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s got really good stuff. He comes after you. He throws strikes. Secondary pitches are really good. The heater gets on you. He should be an All-Star.”

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Count on it. And after a rough all-around season last year, the Phillies have come to count on better defense from Turner. He isn’t winning a Gold Glove, but he has made most of the routine plays.

Despite admitting his indecision about whether to cut down the lead runner at third base or make the safe play to first, Turner insisted he wasn’t thinking about anything other than catching the ball off the bat.

“Honestly, no, I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job securing the ball and feel like I’m making some really good plays,” he said. “I feel like I had the right mindset. Just, I didn’t get around it enough and had an awkward angle at it. If I could’ve got around it more, I think I would’ve been able to secure it better and make the play.

“I wish I would’ve caught it just to see.”