COMSTOCK PARK – It was a quick outing for Spencer Turnbull, but an important one as the Detroit Tigers pitcher was back on the mound after a neck injury.
Turnbull pitched two scoreless innings against the Fort Wayne TinCaps in a Class-A minor league rehab start at LMCU Ballpark, in what turned out to be a 4-1 Whitecaps defeat.
Turnbull, 30, missed all of last season after recovering from Tommy John surgery, then has been sidelined since May 7 this season with neck discomfort after starting the season in the rotation in Detroit.
The Tigers optioned Turnbull to Triple-A Toledo — when he started with a 7.26 ERA with 15 walks and 24 strikeouts over 31 innings in his first seven starts — before he disclosed the neck injury to the organization.
He looked decently sharp on Tuesday, reaching as high as 94 mph with his fastball. Turnbull (1-4) allowed two hits in two innings, striking out one and walking zero. He threw a total of 23 pitches with 15 of them strikes.
“The most important thing is that he was healthy,” Whitecaps manager and former Tigers catcher Brayan Pena said. “It was a two-inning outing and we are very happy with the way he kept his composure with runners in scoring position and made good pitches. He was able to put the zeroes up there. When his outing was done, he had a smile on his face, which we were excited to see.”
Turnbull gave up a leadoff double to Fort Wayne’s Kai Murphy in the first inning, but got a groundout, pop up to third and another groundout to get out of the first inning unscathed.
In the second inning, got two quick outs before giving up a triple to Nerwilian Cedeno, before getting another groundout to strand the runner at third.
“A lot of people don’t realize the difficulties in making a rehab start. It’s not like it’s spring training and we’re in a backfield and Lakeland you know, there’s gonna be 1,000 people in the stands and you’re gonna be facing nine guys in the other lineup that want to have a memorable at bat,” Whitecaps pitching coach Dean Stiles said. “Meanwhile, he’s used to pitching like I said at a triple deck stadium with, you know, 20,000 30,000 people in the stands and the adrenaline and the juices are flowing at a much higher level. So that balancing act is a difficult one. But they are big leaguers with really good stuff since they should be able to handle it.
“But the best part about it is our guys get to hang out with a big leaguer for and just see how it works. how he goes about his business. I mean, all these young men aspire to, to reach the big league level. None of them know what it’s like. They’re still learning what it takes to get there.”
Wilkel Hernandez replaced Turbull in the third inning.
Turnbull is 12-29 in his five-year major-league career with a 4.55 ERA. He has struck out 280 in 302.1 innings. He threw a no-hitter in 2021 against the Mariners.
Turnbull, who was not made available to reporters, is scheduled for another rehab start on Sunday afternoon at LMCU Ballpark.
“He was elevating the fastball and keeping them guessing. He had that extra gear when men are in scoring position,” Pena said. “We are looking forward to the next one. We want to continue to build from this.”
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.