Blue Jays at Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are going through one of the worst stretches of the club's 119-year history, and there doesn't appear to be any indication their fortunes are set to change anytime soon after the Toronto Blue Jays handed them their fifth double-digit loss of the season. The Tigers attempt to win for only the fourth time in 25 contests Saturday when they host the Blue Jays for the second of three games.
Detroit and its major-league worst offense has scored only six runs over its last four games combined following Friday's 12-1 rout, sending the club to a fifth straight defeat. With another loss Saturday, the Tigers will match their worst 25-game run since the 2003 squad opened the season 3-22 en route to recording the worst record in club history at 43-119. Toronto bounced back nicely from getting shut out in Boston on Thursday, scoring at least 10 runs for the second time in four contests. Eric Sogard, Freddy Galvis and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. paced a 15-hit attack with three apiece, while Danny Jansen drove in three runs as the Blue Jays matched their run total from the four-game series between the two teams to begin the season.
TV: 6:10 p.m. ET, Sportsnet (Toronto), FS Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays RH Trent Thornton (3-7, 5.25 ERA) vs. Tigers LH Daniel Norris (2-8, 5.14)
Thornton struggled in his first start since the All-Star break Monday in Boston, taking the loss after yielding five runs on five hits and three walks while only recording four outs. The 25-year-old has pitched slightly better on the road this season, going 2-3 with a 4.31 ERA in 11 outings versus 1-4, 6.58 in nine home turns. Thornton allowed only a pair of singles to Jeimer Candelario and Niko Goodrum over five innings in a no-decision on March 31 in his first career start versus the Tigers.
Nearly four years after he was acquired from Toronto in the David Price trade, Norris will make his first start against the team that made him a second-round pick in 2011. The Tennessee native is in the midst of an 11-start winless streak in which he is 0-7 with a 5.98 ERA after going 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA through his first eight appearances (five starts). Galvis (1-for-1, double) and Jansen (1-for-2) are the only Blue Jays with hits against Norris.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Tigers are 12-33 at home and have been outscored 96-38 while dropping 13 of their last 14 contests at Comerica Park.
2. Sogard is batting .375 with four multi-hit games since the All-Star break.
3. Detroit OF JaCoby Jones, who returned from the injured list Friday, finished 3-for-4 and scored his team's only run on Gordon Beckham's RBI groundout in the eighth inning.