KANSAS CITY -- The good news for Tigers right-hander Spencer Turnbull was that his fastball, which raised concerns about shoulder fatigue with a sharp drop in velocity two weeks ago, was close to normal on Friday night against the Royals, topping out at 95 mph.

The command of it, though, was nowhere near his usual standards. Call it rust, or call it adrenaline, but Turnbull looked out of sync.

“Felt good when I first got out there,” Turnbull said following the Tigers’ 8-5 loss at Kauffman Stadium. “Just wasn't my best with a lot of pitches up. Wasn't able to finish guys off. Gave up a lot of hard contact tonight.”

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While Detroit started off the second half of its schedule with a loss, Turnbull’s return was more important than the result. The Tigers wanted to see more of the life his pitches showed when he was making a subtle case for American League Rookie of the Year Award honors for the first couple months of the season. Friday was a step in the right direction in his return from the injured list, but the aggressive mentality that made him such a vital cog in the rotation earlier this season was hampered by the realities of his command in his first outing since June 27.

“I don't know exactly what it was,” Turnbull said. “Felt pretty good. Felt normal. Felt all right. Just not executing my best pitches tonight.”

The Tigers will want to see more refinement. With a five-man rotation now a necessity thanks to fewer off-days over the next several weeks, Turnbull should get plenty of repetitions.

“It’s a growing experience,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He’s a little confused right now, I’m sure, because he felt great. They made him work, made him throw some pitches, took some of the breaking balls, got him early on some breaking balls, and they made him work a little bit. But that’s his first comeback after having the dead arm.

“His arm’s fine. He feels physically great. He misfired a little bit here and there, but we’ll take that. He just was out of gas.”

Turnbull’s dominance of Royals hitters was one of the consistencies of this season, including two of his three best starts by game scores. Add together the three meetings, and he entered Friday having allowed three earned runs on 16 hits over 19 innings against Kansas City with 22 strikeouts.

From the outset however, Turnbull showed the rust from his time on the shelf. His leadoff walk to Whit Merrifield resulted in a run thanks to an Adalberto Mondesi single and an Alex Gordon sacrifice fly. A one-out walk to Bubba Starling in his first Major League plate appearance set up a second-inning run on a Niko Goodrum throwing error. Gordon’s walk sparked a three-run third inning, punctuated by a Cheslor Cuthbert two-run home run off a hanging first-pitch slider.

“For me, it's never the hits that beat Spencer, even though he didn't give up a ton of them. It's kind of what happened before,” catcher John Hicks said. “The first two innings, he had walks score. He gave up the home run on a oh-oh slider that just kind of stayed middle of the plate. But for him, it's about getting those guys out early and limiting the walks. That's kind of what hurt him.”

Though Turnbull’s 27 fastballs averaged 93 mph according to Statcast, they drew just five called strikes and two swings and misses. His five sinkers fared worse, with two hard hits, while his secondary pitches drew one swing and miss total. However, he maintained his velocity throughout his 55-pitch, three-inning performance.

“To me, he was a little erratic with his fastball,” Hicks said. “We had to go to the offspeed stuff earlier than we normally would. He was commanding that a lot better than his fastball.”

Turnbull’s quick outing essentially made him a piggyback starter to Gregory Soto, who followed with three scoreless innings and three strikeouts in a long-relief role that could suit the hard-throwing left-handed sinkerballer long term if Detroit can sort out its rotation. Martin Maldonado’s seventh-inning home run off a Blaine Hardy changeup put the Royals in front for good before Jorge Soler’s eighth-inning insurance solo homer off Jose Cisnero.

“It was a good pitch,” said Hardy, who pitched through a cramp in his side. “I just left it up.”