DETROIT — The Tigers are struggling so much that a strong performance from Tarik Skubal was not enough to stop their late-season slide.
The reigning American League Cy Young Award and pitching Triple Crown winner returned from an injury scare in his last start and gave up one run over six innings in a 3-1 loss to the surging Cleveland Guardians on Thursday.
Skubal, who had tightness on his left side during his previous start, allowed seven hits, struck out nine and walked two in Thursday’s 102-pitch outing.
“I felt good,” said Skubal, who had tightness on his left side during his previous start. “The loss is probably more of what I’m focused on, rather than how I’m feeling.”
Skubal was replaced by right-hander Troy Melton in the seventh in a 1-1 game. Nine pitches later, Jose Ramirez hit a go-ahead, two-run homer to give the Guardians a 3-1 lead.
The AL Central-leading Tigers have lost 15 of their past 22 games. Cleveland, meanwhile, has won a season-best seven straight games — and 11 of its past 12 — to pull within 3½ games of Detroit.
“We’re still atop the division,” Skubal said. “We’ve got to move on and start playing a better brand of baseball.”
The teams play three more games against each other Sept. 23-25 in Cleveland.
Cleveland made the most of Skubal’s mistake in the fourth, taking advantage of a 0-2 changeup he threw over the plate with Jhonkensy Noel’s game-tying solo homer. In the same inning, the 28-year-old Skubal struck out Brayan Rocchio to set a single-season career high with 229 strikeouts.
The hard-throwing lefty was more effective later in the game, striking out David Fry with a 101.5 mph pitch — his third-fastest pitch of the season — to end the top of the fifth inning.
He started the sixth inning with 82 pitches and struck out Gabriel Arias on four pitches and Noel on four more pitches. With a chance to get out of the sixth, Rocchio hit a triple that right fielder Wenceel Perez had a chance to catch but could not snag.
“You gotta swing; he’s going to throw strikes,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of Skubal. “You know he’s coming right after you. You got to be ready to jump anything that’s thrown in the middle of the plate.”
The Guardians extended the inning with Austin Hedges’ walk on a pitch Skubal thought was a strike as he squatted in disbelief that he threw a ball.
Skubal responded by striking out Nolan Jones with a 99.5 mph pitch to end the sixth in his start that showed he’s healthy. He reached 100 pitches for the third time, three shy of a season-high 105 in July against Texas.
“He answered every question about his health and his competitiveness,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.
It was Skubal’s seventh game this season of at least six innings with just one run or less, tying Mickey Lolich (1972) for the most in Tigers history.
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.