Despite leading off for the offense and taking the mound to start for the American League, things didn’t go exactly as desired for the Detroit Tigers’ reps at the 2025 MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Gleyber Torres and then Riley Greene both struck out swinging at the hands of Pirates phenom Paul Skenes in a scoreless top of the first inning for the A.L. before bad luck bit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in a two-run, three-hit showing as the starter. Skubal still managed a pair of strikeouts as the A.L. trailed the N.L. early in a game that ended tied, 6-6, after nine innings.

To decide a winner, the game went to a tie breaking home run competition, which the National League won behind a strong showing from Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.

It was ultimately a slow day for the collective All Star Tigers at the plate, as Torres, Greene, Javier Báez and Zach McKinstry went a combined 0-for-8.

Skubal looked his usual self on Tuesday, and worked into two-strike counts against the first two hitters, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and hometown favorite Ronald Acuna Jr., only to give up a pair of singles on soft contact that found holes in the defense.

With runners on first and second base for Arizona’s Ketel Marte, Skubal again got ahead in the count, 0-1, before Marte scorched a double up the first base line, scoring both runners and giving the National League an early lead.

Skubal got his first out when Dodger and former Brave Freddie Freeman grounded out to third base. 

“I thought I was never going to get an out there,” Skubal, who was mic’d up, said on the Fox broadcast.

He then struck out San Diego’s Manny Machado looking, with an assist from the review system in place for the All-Star Game to turn a ball into strike three.

“Take ‘em any way you can get ‘em,” Skubal said on the broadcast.

He capped off his lone inning of work with a quick strikeout of Dodgers catcher Will Smith, blowing a fastball at nearly 100 mph past him for the third strike, as he put away three consecutive batters to limit the damage. 

Báez, in his first at bat, in the top of the third inning, grounded into a fielder’s choice at third base, getting thrown out at first but advancing a runner to second base. Torres grounded out to first base to end the third inning a few batters later.

Then, to lead off the fourth inning, Greene struck out swinging against New York Mets lefty David Peterson.

Casey Mize, Detroit’s sixth All Star, made his debut in the game in the sixth inning, coming on with one out after the National League had blown the game open on a three-run home run.

Mize navigated out of the inning with a fly out and then a strikeout of Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz, but not without Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll mashing a solo home run between the pair of outs, giving the N.L. a 6-0 lead at the time.

McKinstry would finally get his shot in the eighth inning, pinch hitting and lining out to right field.

With the win, the N.L. hopes to break a bit of a bad stretch in the All Star Game, as the American League had won 10 of the prior 11 showdowns.

And the N.L. nearly ran away with a big win on Tuesday, leading 6-0 after six innings before the American League bats came to life late, powered by a three-run home run from Oakland slugger Brent Rooker.

And entering the top of the ninth inning needing a pair of runs, the A.L. lineup came in clutch, with Kansas City’s speedy shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. scoring the game tying run on an infield hit by Cleveland’s Steven Kwan.

But while the A.L. managed to come back and tie, it was all for nothing when Schwarber stepped in and mashed some long balls in the home run tiebreak.