Twins lose to Tigers 7-2 as bullpen lets game get away in seventh inning

DETROIT — The Twins found the perfect trade-deadline addition to their starting rotation Saturday.

Too bad he was pitching to them and not for them.

Tarik Skubal, rumored to be the target of some of baseball’s biggest talent buyers as Tuesday’s deadline nears, allowed a first-inning home run to Royce Lewis but virtually nothing else over seven ruthlessly efficient innings Saturday, winning his AL-leading 12th game and leading the Tigers to a 7-2 victory at Comerica Park.

There is little indication that the Twins, though shopping for a starting pitcher, are actively bidding against the Orioles, Dodgers and Yankees, who are reportedly in pursuit. Though their manager sure wouldn’t mind if they were.

“It’s hard to really get anything going off of Skubal, he’s that tough. And he threw the ball very well today,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “This was textbook Tarik Skubal. He’s good. There’s not a lot that you’re going to do against him some days.”

Actually, the Tigers didn’t do much against Joe Ryan, either. The Twins righthander gave up only four hits over six innings, all of them ground balls. But the Tigers somehow managed to turn them into three runs, in part because of a weird-bounce triple that was fielded by second baseman Willi Castro.

The bigger problem, though, was the Twins’ bullpen. Once Ryan departed, Brock Stewart and Steven Okert each surrendered a two-run homer during Detroit’s four-run seventh inning, putting the game out of reach.

Stewart, dejected after giving up only the third home run of his two-year tenure in Minnesota — and to Javy Báez, who entered the series with only two homers all year but has now hit one on back-to-back days — sat on the bench and stewed over it after being pulled. Baldelli wandered over to encourage him.

“He told me to just keep working, that it’s not easy coming back from an injury, so just keep going and iron out the kinks,” said Stewart, who missed three months because of a shoulder injury. “It always makes you feel good to know he has your back.”

Okert, whose ERA is at 4.60 after giving up Colt Keith’s blast a dozen rows into the right-field seats, was trying to stay positive, too. The lefthander hadn’t given up a home run since May 17, and hadn’t allowed one on his two-seam fastball all season.

“It’s been tough lately. If I get weak contact, they find holes. Today, I give up the home run,” Okert said. “I’ve got to just keep grinding and get through. Just got to be better.”

Sure, but sometimes even that doesn’t help. Ryan, after all, pitched a quality start, allowing three runs over six innings. But for the third time in his last four starts that good, the Twins lost. The Twins are 10-11 when Ryan starts, in fact, much like their ace of a year ago, Cy Young Award runner-up Sonny Gray, who started only 14 victories in 32 opportunities last year.

“Stuff happens,” Ryan said with a shrug. “I’ll take the ground ball over some of the fly balls. But it’s just how it shakes out sometimes. It’s frustrating, but you have to keep attacking the zone and filling ‘er up.”

BOXSCORE: Detroit 7, Twins 2

He gave up a run in the first inning after Jose Miranda bobbled a ground ball and allowed Matt Vierling to reach base. Vierling scored on a two-out single, a bouncer up the middle just out of Brooks Lee’s reach, by Mark Canha.

Ryan recovered by not allowing a hit over the next four innings, but Vierling caused more trouble in the sixth by leading off with another grounder up the middle that reached center field. Then came Keith, who pulled a first-pitch sweeper directly over first base.

The ground ball skidded into foul territory and, as right fielder Manuel Margot rushed to the right-field corner to retrieve it, struck a section of stands that juts out near the foul line. The ball deflected at so severe an angle toward the infield that Castro was the first to arrive to grab it.

Vierling scored during that chase and Keith reached third base with a home-field-advantage triple. When Canha lifted a fly ball to deep center, Keith scored to give Detroit its first lead of the series.

“It’s just how it is sometimes. You learn to pitch with it,” Ryan said. “Just got to punch more guys out.”