Toronto 9, Detroit 2
When: 1:07 PM ET, Sunday, August 30, 2015
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature:
73°
Umpires:
Home -
Bob Davidson, 1B -
Hunter Wendelstedt, 2B -
Marvin Hudson, 3B -
Manny Gonzalez
Attendance:
46625
By The Sports Xchange
TORONTO -- Russell Martin has been on postseason teams before. However, the Toronto Blue Jays catcher said after a 9-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday that this team might be on the way to doing something really big.
"If this isn't the feel of a championship team, I don't know what is," said Martin, who hit a two-run homer. "I feel like we're great offensively, we're great on defense. We're pitching great, our bullpen has depth.
"I like what we have going. We have to just keep pushing and keep playing the way we play and I think we're going to do great things this year."
Edwin Encarnacion hit his fourth homer in two days and extended his hitting streak to a major-league-best 25 games as the Blue Jays improved their record to 21-5 for August.
Encarnacion, who hit three home runs and equaled the club record with nine RBIs on Saturday, went 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch on Sunday.
Josh Donaldson and Kevin Pillar also homered on Sunday for the Blue Jays (74-56), who completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers (60-70).
Blue Jays left-hander Mark Buehrle (14-6) allowed five hits, two walks and two runs (one earned) in six-plus innings to earn the win.
"These guys are swinging the bat right now and scoring runs; it just seems like everything we're doing, we're doing right," Buehrle said. "We're playing defense, we're moving a guy over, obviously we're hitting home runs. ... We're pitching good, bullpen's been pitching good. I think it's one of those things that you just look at the whole picture of every aspect of baseball, we're doing pretty good."
Tigers right-hander Alfredo Simon (11-9) allowed six runs and four home runs among six hits in five innings to take the loss.
"We ran into the best offensive team in the league," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "They were swinging the bats extremely well and we didn't pitch very well. That's not a good recipe.
"They can put up runs in a hurry and they did that against us for three straight days. ...You feel like you're always digging yourself out of a hole."
Donaldson, the Blue Jays third baseman, hit his 36th homer of the season with one out in the first.
Encarnacion, the designated hitter, followed with his 30th of the season with two outs in the first. His hit streak tied him with third baseman Scott Rolen for the fourth longest in club history. Rolen's 25-game streak came in 2009.
The Blue Jays took a 4-0 lead in the second when Pillar, the center fielder, followed a walk to Martin with his ninth homer of the season.
Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki doubled and Martin hit his 17th homer of the season in the fourth to put the Blue Jays ahead 6-0.
The Tigers scored an unearned run in the sixth after left fielder Rajai Davis led off with a double. Second baseman Ian Kinsler lined out to Donaldson, whose throw to second in an attempt to double up Davis went into the outfield for an error. Davis took third and scored on first baseman Miguel Cabrera's groundout to third.
Buehrle faced two batters in the seventh without getting an out. He walked designated hitter Victor Martinez, and third baseman Nick Castellanos, who had three hits in the game, doubled to the wall in center field, a ball nearly caught by Pillar.
"They're supposed to be the best-hitting team in baseball and this weekend they definitely played like it," Castellanos said of the Blue Jays.
Right-hander Mark Lowe replaced Buehrle. Catcher James McCann drove in the only run of the inning with a groundout to shortstop.
"It's a very potent lineup," McCann said. "There's no breaks in that lineup. No matter where you look, there's a good hitter that can do some damage"
Blue Jays second baseman Ryan Goins doubled in two runs in the eighth inning against right-hander Bruce Rondon to extend his hit streak to nine games.
Donaldson singled home Goins for the third run of the inning.
"We're playing great baseball," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "That's pretty obvious. Everything's really clicking. Our offense is on fire, our pitching's been good, our defense has been great. ... It's all come together to this point."
NOTES: LF Ben Revere started in the leadoff spot Sunday for the first time since joining the Blue Jays in a July 31 trade with the Philadelphia Phillies. He went-0-for-4 with a walk Sunday to end a nine-game hitting streak. SS Troy Tulowitzki was dropped to fifth in the lineup after leading off since joining Toronto in a July 28 trade with the Colorado Rockies. ... Tigers RF J.D. Martinez was back in the lineup and batted fourth after having Saturday off. ... The Blue Jays continue a nine-game homestand Monday with LHP David Price (13-4, 2.42 ERA) starting the opener of a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians, who will start RHP Danny Salazar (11-7, 3.30 ERA). ... The Tigers have Monday off before RHP Justin Verlander (2-6, 3.45 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series Tuesday at Kansas City. The Royals will start RHP Johnny Cueto (9-9, 2.94 ERA).
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Detroit |
|
Toronto |
Alfredo Simon |
Player |
Mark Buehrle |
Loss |
W/L |
Win |
5.0 |
IP |
6.0 |
2 |
Strikeouts |
2 |
6 |
Hits |
5 |
10.80 |
ERA |
1.50 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Detroit
|
7 |
0 |
10 |
.212 |
15 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
Toronto
|
11 |
4 |
25 |
.314 |
10 |
6 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
1 |