DETROIT -- The fog that settled over Comerica Park on Thursday evening shrouded the downtown skyline and made a few fly balls an adventure before it finally lifted in the late innings of the Tigers' 6-4 loss to the Yankees. For Spencer Turnbull, the fog lifted sooner.

The last time Turnbull took the mound, he spent more time in the dugout talking with his manager than he spent pitching. Such was the concern Ron Gardenhire had about his young right-hander and his series of slow outings, quick exits and inconsistent command. Gardenhire wasn't going to talk to him about mechanics or pitches; he just wanted to sit down with him about mentality.

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"I told him, 'You've been pitching your whole life. What you always did as a kid is what you should be doing right now: Let the catcher put down a sign, and you try to throw it right to the glove,'" Gardenhire said. "Any more than that is too much right now for him. That's exactly what I told him and how I told him: 'You have to clear it all out and throw to the glove,' just like he did growing up."

In that context, Turnbull's five innings marked a step in the right direction despite the loss and a doubleheader sweep. His slider, a pitch that has been wildly inconsistent in recent starts, was a viable swing-and-miss pitch, drawing eight swinging strikes from a New York lineup that struck out just three times earlier in the day against Matthew Boyd in the Tigers' 10-4 loss. Turnbull's eight strikeouts tied his second-highest total of the season. His tempo was quicker, keeping his defense involved, and he posted his deepest start since Aug. 27.

Turnbull's confidence, shaky as it has seemed at times, was relatively intact.

"Better than I have [felt] in a while," Turnbull said. "Obviously the results weren't what I was hoping for, but it definitely felt like my mental process was better."

In a results context, Turnbull still became the first Detroit pitcher with 15 losses in a season since Justin Verlander in 2008. The Tigers, meanwhile, missed a chance to win the season series from the Yankees for the first time since 2011.

"Obviously, he probably sees it," Gardenhire said of the losses. "The smart ones don't read it."

The way Turnbull's stretch run has gone, and the Tigers' season as a whole, the small victories are the focus. He was 3-4 with a 2.84 ERA when he picked up his last win May 31; he's 0-11 with a 6.75 ERA over 15 starts since. They've kept sending him to the mound each rotation turn in hopes of getting him back in sync.

"He's doing fine," Gardenhire continued. "He's a good young pitcher. If he continues and stays healthy, he'll be one of the guys in this rotation that we're going to count on, because he's got stuff."

That stuff had been a mish-mash in recent outings. Turnbull had little more than his fastball last Friday in Oakland, where he allowed almost as many runs (four) as he recorded outs (five), including a bases-loaded walk in a 39-pitch second inning.

When Aaron Judge hit a fly ball into the fog and into the right-field seats for a two-run homer, Turnbull seemed headed in the same direction Thursday with a 2-0 deficit just seven pitches in. Instead, he took Gardenhire's words to heart and regrouped.

"I think, lately, I've been letting stuff get to me," Turnbull said. "I've been overthinking stuff or trying to be too perfect instead of just having that [mentality] of, 'Here it is, I'm coming at you.' First inning was a little rough, but I stuck with it. I think that helped me pitch a lot better."

Turnbull threw an equal mix of fastballs and sliders, 32 each according to Statcast, with a healthy dose of sinkers mixed in. His curveball, which had been his main breaking ball while he tried to find his slider, was more of a secondary pitch.

Most importantly, Turnbull worked quickly and pitched aggressively. His lone walk was a two-out, third-inning pass to Gary Sanchez, who was caught stealing two pitches later. Two of Turnbull's three other three-ball counts ended in strikeouts, fanning Gleyber Torres in the third inning and Brett Gardner in the fourth.

In hindsight, Turnbull could've used one more full count. He would gladly take back the 2-2 fastball he tried to locate up and inside on Judge.

"Judge's homer, he's big and strong and he kind of blocked it out to right," catcher Grayson Greiner said. "But [Turnbull] threw the ball and gave us a chance."

Turnbull had enough going on with his own pitching to worry about his counterpart, but he could've taken an example from what is likely CC Sabathia's final outing at Comerica Park, where he owns 11 of his 251 career wins. With an array of sinkers, cutters, sliders and changeups, the 39-year-old lefty returned from the injured list and shut down Detroit until Brandon Dixon's two-run double chased him in the fourth.

Four innings later, Christin Stewart pinch-hit in the eighth inning with two runners on in a 4-2 game. His opposite-field line drive off Tommy Kahnle had an expected batting average of .810, according to Statcast, but Torres snared it and fired to shortstop Didi Gregorius to double off Harold Castro at second base and end the threat. Gio Urshela's two-run homer in the ninth provided the eventual difference once Greiner's first Major League triple started a ninth-inning rally.