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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