DETROIT -- The last time a Tigers pitcher followed up a no-hitter, fans were treated to the Summer of Verlander, when seemingly every start was a no-hit bid in the making. Nothing about Monday’s 6-5 loss to Cleveland or Spencer Turnbull's performance suggested this will be the Summer of Spencer in that sense.

Yet much like Verlander’s second no-hitter in 2011 seemed to springboard him from a good starter into an elite class and the winner of the AL MVP and the AL Cy Young at year’s end, Turnbull has a chance to take a step forward in his career. Monday’s outing, while a no-decision that keeps him winless for his career against Cleveland, was a notable step.

“I think he’s turning a corner,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.

Turnbull wasn’t unhittable, and the BABIP gods seemed almost vindictive against him with three softly hit singles in a two-run third inning. Yet, on a night when Turnbull didn’t have his best stuff, he kept both the Tigers and himself in the game, allowing three runs on seven hits over six innings.

It’s the kind of outing that could’ve unraveled on Turnbull quickly, as was often the case in the past. As he stared into catcher Eric Haase with the AL MVP runner-up José Ramírez in the box, two runs in and two more runners on in the third, he seemed headed in that direction.

Cleveland’s three third-inning singles combined for a .510 expected batting average, none hit 80 mph in exit velocity. Turnbull’s pitches were barely getting elevated, let alone pummeled, but a one-out walk to Amed Rosario was a reminder of past command woes. He had fought to even what had been a 2-0 count, then threw two pitches off the outside corner that Rosario shrugged off.

The soft hits admittedly lingered.

“I probably had a lot of thoughts go through my head there,” Turnbull said. “It’s just frustrating, unfortunate. I made good pitches. They didn’t hit them hard, just got some fortunate breaks on their side for the balls to fall in. That’s baseball. Last week, everything was hit at guys. And this week, I had some that fell in and cost some runs.”

Up came Ramírez , 7-for-16 with four extra-base hits and five RBIs off Turnbull entering the game. Turnbull threw a slider for a first-pitch strike, then worked up and down with fastballs. Ramírez fouled off one in the zone before getting under a sinker for a flyout to shallow left-center. Three pitches and an Eddie Rosario fly ball later, Turnbull was out of a jam.

Though the Indians have been no-hit twice this season, they made Turnbull work, swinging and missing just five times compared to the 19 swings and misses he racked up in Seattle last Tuesday. Yet the balls Cleveland put in play off Turnbull averaged 83.4 mph in exit velocity, according to Statcast, compared to 91 mph last week off the Mariners’ bats.

“Early on, the first couple innings, he broke just about everybody's bat, and it was early in the count,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “And the inning we scored, we didn't hit a lot of balls hard, truth be told. I mean, he broke a lot of bats tonight. His ball was moving all over the plate.”

That’s what Turnbull does when he’s on, and often when he isn’t. Corralling that movement and the counts in his favor is the key.

“His ball moves, cuts, sinks,” Hinch said. “He reached back a couple times, got 96 [mph] and got some putaway pitches. You can’t be held to a no-hit standard every night. He did a good job battling.”

The other run off Turnbull scored on a two-out line drive that hit his glove and bounced out for an infield single, a ball Turnbull was similarly frustrated he couldn’t collect. Three other baserunners were erased on double plays, tying Turnbull’s career high and tripling his total from his other six starts this season.

It marked Turnbull’s third consecutive quality start. Not only had he never done that in his career, he hadn’t lasted six innings in three straight outings.

“I just have higher expectations of myself now. That probably plays into some of the frustration,” Turnbull said. “Six innings, three runs is not bad, but I feel like I put myself in position to finish better than I did.”

Not until a three-run seventh off Detroit’s bullpen did Cleveland pull ahead, including a run-scoring wild pitch from Bryan Garcia and an Eddie Rosario two-run single off Daniel Norris. Willi Castro’s two-run homer off Nick Wittgren brought the Tigers back within a run, but Jordan Luplow’s game-ending diving catch denied Haase a game-tying or walk-off single.