Mike Vasil gets under Tarik Skubal’s skin in White Sox’ loss to Tigers

DETROIT — It’s not often that the first person reporters approach in the clubhouse after a game is an injured player who’s out for the season.

But that was the case Friday at Comerica Park, where the White Sox lost to the Tigers 4-3 in a snippy and snappy game.

With the bases loaded and the score tied at 2 in the top of the fifth, Tigers ace Tarik Skubal struck out Colson Montgomery with the bases loaded to end the inning. As he walked off the field, Skubal shouted and gestured toward the Sox’ dugout, apparently perturbed by injured pitcher Mike Vasil’s high jinks with his ‘‘magical’’ wand.

‘‘It was good, clean fun,’’ said Vasil, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery. ‘‘I was just up there on the top step, helping the team out, cheering them on. Next thing I know, I’m getting reamed out.

‘‘There were some pretty choice words, and then I shared back some choice words. It was good stuff.’’

The umpires gathered to discuss the matter, but nothing came of it.

Sox manager Will Venable wondered whether the Tigers were accusing the Sox of stealing signs.

With the wand?

‘‘I have no idea,’’ Venable said. ‘‘Everything that we do on our bench is inward; it’s aboveboard. We had two umpires coming over and talking to us and no one talking to their side. It was their guy on the mound that was yelling and causing a scene. We were just trying to explain that there was nothing going on and didn’t really know what the problem was.’’

Vasil said Skubal hadn’t said anything to the Sox until then.

‘‘We started to get on base, and people get paranoid,’’ he said.

The bigger issue was that the Sox scored only one run in the inning and left the bases loaded. Though Junior Perez followed his first major-league hit with his first big-league home run in the sixth to give the Sox a 3-2 lead, it was short-lived.

In the bottom of the inning, Kerry Carpenter blooped a two-out, two-run double in front of a charging Tristan Peters in center field against Erick Fedde, who otherwise had a fine outing.

‘‘Big spot with two guys on, I felt like I made the pitch I wanted to,’’ said Fedde, who threw a cutter. ‘‘It was a good piece of hitting.’’

Notes

Venable batted Miguel Vargas first in the order, only the fifth time in Vargas’ career he batted leadoff.

“Just wanted to mix it up and give Miguel the opportunity to get as many at-bats as possible against Skubal,” Venable said. “He’s our best hitter against left-handed pitching.”

Vargas went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.

• Catcher Kyle Teel (hamstring, knee) had four hits in five at-bats with two runs scored and two RBI in his rehab outing Friday at Triple-A Charlotte. He’s scheduled to play another nine innings Saturday, then be evaluated for a potential return.

• Left-hander Noah Schultz (knee) is scheduled to throw 50 to 60 pitches (about three innings) in his rehab appearance Sunday.