DETROIT — Kevin Gausman allowed one hit and one stroll whereas hanging out 10 in six shutout innings, outdueling the reigning American League Cy Younger Award winner, Tarik Skubal, within the Toronto Blue Jays‘ spectacular 6-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday evening.
Skubal allowed 5 hits in six scoreless innings, whereas strolling three and hanging out seven. However Toronto dented the Tigers’ bullpen en path to their third-straight win on this battle of first-place groups.
“That is a heavyweight struggle,” outfielder George Springer mentioned on Toronto’s postgame present on Sportsnet, referring to the Gausman-Skubal matchup. “These guys went blow for blow and fought the entire recreation. However Gausy was pitching lights out. That is only a helluva ballgame.”
Bo Bichette‘s two-run single broke a scoreless tie within the eighth inning, after which Nathan Lukes, Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered in a four-run ninth because the Blue Jays gained their fourth in a row and elevated their AL East result in 6 1/2 video games over the New York Yankees.
The Tigers have misplaced six straight and 12 of 13, however nonetheless maintain a snug lead within the AL Central. They’ve scored solely 33 runs throughout that stretch (2.5 per recreation) and have been held to a pair of Jake Rogers singles on Saturday, as Gausman pissed off the house crew.
“It appeared like three years in the past,” Toronto supervisor John Schneider mentioned of Gausman, 34, who gained 12, 12 and 14 video games in his first three seasons with the Blue Jays. “He was simply dominating the place he needed to go together with the ball and his splitter was a distinction maker.”
4 Toronto pitchers mixed for 13 strikeouts and one stroll, and Braydon Fisher (4-0) pitched an ideal seventh for the win. The Blue Jays are 8-1 for the reason that All-Star break and have gained 21 of 26 general.
In the meantime, Riley Greene‘s ninth-inning groundout plated Detroit’s solely run, whereas reliever Will Vest (5-2) took the loss. The Tigers will attempt to salvage the ultimate recreation of the sequence Sunday, when former Detroit ace Max Scherzer (1-0, 5.14 ERA) begins for the Blue Jays towards Jack Flaherty (5-10, 4.77).
The Related Press contributed to this report.