Tigers Vs. Blue Jays Final Score: Detroit Avoids Sweep With 4-1 Win

Paced by eight innings of one-run baseball from starting pitcher Doug Fister, the Detroit Tigers righted the ship and avoided a three-game sweep against Toronto on Sunday with a 4-1 victory.

Though Tigers hitters could only muster five hits on the day, a Jhonny Peralta three-run home run in the second inning proved to be more than enough run support for a stingy Fister to work with. In addition to scattering seven hits and lowering his season ERA down to 3.77, Fister whiffed nine Blue Jays hitters to mark the third time in four starts where he's fanned at least eight opponents.

Peralta, who finished the afternoon 2-for-4 with four runs batted in, stepped to plate in the ninth inning and proceeded to smack out his second home run of the game in impressive fashion. The second blast signified Peralta's eighth bomb of the year, which is a drastic drop-off from last year's impressive total of 21.

Now back to their winning ways for a three-game series in Boston at Fenway Park, the Tigers will benefit from having Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander on the mound for games one and two respectively.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Struggling Detroit Offense Needs Reversal Of Fortunes To Avoid Sweep

The Detroit Tigers are 1-4 since their five-game winning streak came to an end earlier this week, and they've scored just 14 runs in those five games. They've lost the first two games in Toronto after new Tiger Anibal Sanchez gave up five runs in his debut Saturday afternoon.

Doug Fister (4-7, 4.03 ERA) takes the mound for the Tigers as they look to avoid a three-game sweep and a fourth straight loss. He's been effective in his three starts since the All-Star Break, with a 2.05 ERA and quality starts in each of those outings.

For Toronto, lefty Brett Cecil (2-3, 5.82 ERA) will be trying to prove he's worthy of keeping his rotation spot. He's struggled with giving up home runs throughout his career, but has allowed less than three runs in his two most recent starts.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays Final Score: Anibal Sanchez Rocked In Detroit Debut

A season ago, the Detroit Tigers took over first place in the AL Central in July and never looked back. This season, they took first place on the same day, but have since given it up with losses in four of their last five games, which includes a three-game losing streak. Two of those losses are in the current three-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays, who took game one on Friday by a score of 8-3 and followed that up with a 5-1 win in game two on Saturday.

Anibal Sanchez made his first start for the Tigers and pitched poorly. He was pulled after six innings, having given up five runs off of eight hits while walking three with three strikeouts. Worse, he gave up three homeruns on the day. Solo homers were given up in the fourth and sixth innings to Edwin Encarnacion and Yunel Escobar, respectively. Colby Rasmus hit a two-run blast in the seventh for good insurance, and had an RBI earlier in the game on a sacrifice fly.

Henderson Alvarez made the start for the Blue Jays and picked up the win. He gave up just one run off of five hits while walking two and striking out four. His lone earned run came when Brennan Boesch doubled deep to left center, which brought Delmon Young around to score in the fourth inning.

Detroit is now two games back of the CHicago White Sox in the AL Central, and the comeback trail starts with game three against Toronto on Saturday. Doug Fister will take the mound against Brett Cecil. The game is set for 1:07 p.m. eastern.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Saturday's Starting Lineups

Anibal Sanchez will make his Detroit Tigers debut on Saturday, as the Tigers take on the Blue Jays from the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Both Jim Leyland and John Farrell have announced the starting lineups for Saturday's contest, and they are as follows:

Detroit Tigers

CF Austin Jackson
LF Quintin Berry
3B Miguel Cabrera
1B Prince Fielder
DH Delmon Young
RF Brennan Boesch
SS Jhonny Peralta
C Alex Avila
2B Omar Infante

SP Anibal Sanchez

Toronto Blue Jays

RF Rajai Davis
DH Colby Rasmus
3B Brett Lawrie
1B Edwin Encarnacion
LF Travis Snider
SS Yunel Escobar
2B Kelly Johnson
C Yan Gomes
CF Anthony Gose

SP Henderson Alvarez

It's certainly not the ideal setting for Sanchez' debut, as the Blue Jays have a pretty good lineup, though it's a lot less powerful with Jose Bautista on the disabled list. Sanchez faced the Blue Jays earlier this year with the Marlins, and gave up six runs on seven hits in three and a third innings of work.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Detroit Looks To Bounce Back In Sanchez Debut

The Detroit Tigers have lost three of their last four games to slide 1.5 games behind the AL Central Division leading Chicago White Sox. On Saturday afternoon, the Tigers resume their series with the Toronto Blue Jays when recently acquired Anibal Sanchez makes his first American League start for the Tigers.

The 28-year-old right-hander arrived in Detroit from Miami with second baseman Omar Infante as part of a trade earlier in the week. Sanchez was 5-7 with a 3.94 ERA for the Marlins with 110 strikeouts in 121 innings. While this marks his official American League debut, Sanchez did face the Blue Jays earlier in the season in interleague play, suffering a loss on June 22nd when he was knocked out in the fourth inning of a 12-5 loss after giving up seven hits and six runs.

Toronto will try to follow up their 8-3 win on Friday with young right-hander Anderson Alvarez on the mound. Alvarez is 6-7 with a 4.61 ERA and will try to keep the Blue Jays moving in the right direction as they pushed their record over .500 after beating the Tigers in the first game of the weekend series for their second consecutive win.

The game is scheduled to start at 1:07 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox Sports Detroit.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays Final Score: Toronto Tops Detroit, 8-3

It looked like the Detroit Tigers might be in for a big night after the heart of the lineup belted a pair of first inning home runs. The bats fell silent after that early show of force, and the Toronto Blue Jays went on to defeat the Tigers by a final score of 8-3 in their series opener on Friday night.

Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder each put solo shots over the fence to stake Detroit to a 2-0 lead in the first. The Blue Jays picked up a run in the bottom of that inning, before hammering Rick Porcello for four runs in the fourth inning. Toronto added another three runs in the seventh and eighth, including a two-run shot from Travis Snider.

It was the first loss since June 20 for Porcello, whose ERA rose to 4.56. He made it through six innings, giving up five runs, two walks and striking out just one batter.

Blue Jays starter Carlos Villanueva earned his fourth consecutive win, dropping his ERA to 2.92 for the season.

Detroit is now one game behind Chicago for first place in the AL Central. They get another shot in Toronto on Saturday afternoon.

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Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Starting Lineups For Friday's Game

Looking to reclaim first place in the American League Central after a tough loss to Cleveland on Thursday, the Detroit Tigers continue their nine-game road trip on Friday night with a three-game series against Toronto.

The Tigers will be facing a pitcher in Carlos Villanueva who has a sparkling 2.86 ERA in a utility role out of the Blue Jays' bullpen this year. Villanueva has won each of his past three starts since joining the rotation on June 29, and is striking out better than one batter per inning in that span (23.1 innings, 26 strikeouts).

Opposing him for the Tigers is 23-year-old right-hander Rick Porcello, who is 4-1 over his last seven starts. Now pushed to the absolute back end of manager Jim Leyland's rotation after the team acquired righty Anibal Sanchez, Porcello will hope to keep his string of impressive performances going on Friday night:

Here are the starting lineups for game one:

Tigers
1. Austin Jackson - CF
2. Quintin Berry - LF
3. Miguel Cabrera - 3B
4. Prince Fielder - 1B
5. Delmon Young - DH
6. Brennan Boesch - RF
7. Jhonny Peralta - SS
8. Alex Avila - C
9. Omar Infante - 2B
Rick Porcello - SP

Blue Jays
1. Brett Lawrie - 3B
2. Colby Rasmus - CF
3. Edwin Encarnacion - 1B
4. Adam Lind - DH
5. Yunel Escobar - SS
6. Travis Snider - LF
7. Kelly Johnson - 2B
8. Jeff Mathis - C
9. Anthony Gose - RF
Carlos Villanueva - SP

For more Tigers baseball coverage, check out Bless You Boys. For more on the Blue Jays, visit Bluebird Banter. And for more MLB news and analysis, be sure to check out Baseball Nation.

Tigers Vs. Blue Jays: Detroit Looks To Get Back In First Place In Series Against Toronto

The Detroit Tigers will head to Toronto to face the Blue Jays over the weekend as they try and seek first place in the AL Central again.