DETROIT -- The Tigers have been here before, looking at a deflating afternoon against Corey Kluber and a lopsided loss to the Indians.

“He didn’t bring his best stuff, and he still won the game,” slugger Miguel Cabrera said after Detroit’s 8-2 defeat on Tuesday afternoon at Comerica Park. “That’s why he’s one of the best pitchers in the game.”

Jordan Zimmermann has also been here before, reviewing pitches he wishes he could have back against a Cleveland club that has left him winless in eight meetings.

“Just one of those days we have to turn the page and come back and be ready play tomorrow,” Zimmermann said.

In both cases, the Tigers had their chances against the three-time defending American League Central champions, who took over first place in the division with the win. While the lopsided score sapped some energy from Detroit’s hot start, the turning points that opened the gap made it clear where it needs to execute.

“Everything we’ve talked about is, 'Throw the ball over the plate and catch the ball,'” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Today, it didn’t work out as well as we’d like.”

While Kluber is 10-1 with a 2.44 ERA in 13 starts against the Tigers since 2016, Detroit used seven hits, a walk and an error to put six runners in scoring position against him in six innings. The Tigers had more hit and walk damage against the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner on Tuesday than they’ve had in any one game since 2017.

Detroit’s lone extra-base hit off Kluber was a fifth-inning RBI double from Cabrera, which was his first extra-base hit of the season after several hard-hit outs early on. But the Tigers were a hit away from more damage on a few occasions.

Detroit could have used it in the opening inning, when the Tigers had their first two batters on base and a 3-1 count on Cabrera. A ball away from loading the bases, Kluber dropped a curveball just off the outside corner, which was called a strike by home-plate umpire Ted Barrett and merited a look from Cabrera, who swung and missed on a cutter further off the plate for the strikeout. Though Niko Goodrum singled in a run, Detroit could have had more.

“It changed the whole inning,” Cabrera said. “Against Kluber, if you give him a chance, he’s going to take advantage of that.”

Cabrera didn’t give him a chance for that pitch his next time up, turning on a first-pitch fastball for a single as the Tigers put more traffic on the bases. Kluber struck out Goodrum to erase a sacrifice-fly opportunity, walked Jeimer Candelario to load the bases and then struggled to finish off Christin Stewart.

Stewart, who hit a grand slam in his last bases-loaded situation on Saturday, fought out of an 0-2 count, fouled off a curveball and a fastball in to stay alive for a sinker he could elevate. He drove a fly ball to the spacious right-center-field gap, a 385-foot flyout.

Cabrera’s RBI double, also on the first pitch of the at-bat, in the fifth inning cut into a large deficit, but Kluber retired the young middle of the Tigers’ lineup to prevent further damage. Again, Stewart came up with two outs and hit a ball hard, this time a line drive down the line that first baseman Carlos Santana snagged on a diving stop, an out on a ball that had a .700 expected batting average, according to Statcast.

The Tigers went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday. They're batting .184 (16-for-87) with runners in scoring position for the season.

Zimmermann entered the day having allowed one run over 13 2/3 innings in his first two starts at the Blue Jays and Yankees, both of whom struggled with his new pitching mix that de-emphasizes his fastball in favor of a slider. Entering Tuesday's start, he was 0-5 with an 11.08 ERA in seven career starts against Cleveland, including six homers allowed in 26 innings, but much of that folded into his general struggles over the past couple years. If Zimmermann could make his retinkered repertoire work against the Tribe, his transformation would carry greater weight.

Once former Tigers outfielder Leonys Martin hit Zimmermann’s second pitch of the game out to right field, however, the veteran right-hander was in for a test. Martin jumped a fastball as Zimmermann tried to settle in, and Cleveland’s hitters generally stayed aggressive as Detroit’s starter worked in his offspeed arsenal.

“Slider wasn’t very good today,” said Zimmermann, who hung a second-inning slider that Brad Miller hit out for a two-run homer that put Cleveland ahead for good. “Curveball was probably below average. I was leaking a little bit on the fastball. I think probably with six days’ rest I was feeling a little too good, not letting the arm travel. Just didn’t have the location today.”

All four hits off Zimmermann went to the wall or over it. After Jake Bauers led off the sixth inning with a home run off Tigers reliever Blaine Hardy, the Indians had as many home runs Tuesday (four) as they had in their first nine games of the season combined.

It gets no easier for the Tigers on Wednesday, as Matthew Boyd tries to trade zeros with Trevor Bauer on what is expected to be a chillier afternoon. But Detroit can see the plays it needs to make to catch up.