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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