Fourth-inning thunder sends Tigers past Blue Jays 10-1 at Rogers Centre

One clean opening, then a crooked inning

Toronto actually pieced together a respectable beginning. Braydon Fisher worked 1.1 scoreless innings despite two walks, Brendan Cellucci followed with 1.2 scoreless and three strikeouts, and the Blue Jays got through the first third of the game without allowing a hit. That was the useful part of the evening for the home side: the game was still there, untouched, heading into the fourth.

Detroit took it away in a hurry. Max Clark doubled to left to score Riley Greene for the first run, pushing Eduardo Valencia to third, and Torkelson followed by driving a 379-foot home run to left-center that brought home Valencia and Clark for a 4-0 lead. The fifth inning added another when Greene singled to right, scoring Kevin McGonigle, and John Peck's RBI single in the sixth made it 6-0. The shape of the game had changed from manageable to burdensome, and it changed because the Tigers turned one productive inning into a continuing run of pressure.

Detroit kept making Toronto throw one more pitch

The telling number in this game may not have been the 10 runs as much as the 190 pitches the Tigers forced Toronto's staff to throw. Detroit finished with 10 hits, but the offense was larger than the hit total: eight walks, a catcher interference, and 44 plate appearances kept innings alive and kept different Blue Jays pitchers under strain. Even with 16 runners left on base, the Tigers still scored 10 times. That is what a deep, patient offensive night looks like.

Torkelson and Clark sat in the middle of nearly everything important. Torkelson went 2-for-4, scored three times, walked once and drove in three, his fourth-inning homer supplying the blow that separated the teams. Clark finished 2-for-5 with two runs, two RBIs and the early double that started the scoring. Hao-Yu Lee added a two-hit night of his own and his 408-foot solo homer in the ninth served as Detroit's final reminder that this game never drifted back toward Toronto.

There was also a quieter kind of damage in Detroit's box line. McGonigle went hitless but drew three walks and scored, Greene reached twice and drove in a run, Valencia scored once and set up the fourth-inning outburst, and Peck chipped in an RBI single. The Tigers did not need one player to carry the full load because so many hitters contributed to the same pattern: extend the inning, pass the turn, cash the next mistake. The eighth inning captured that dynamic perfectly, with a throwing error by catcher Alejandro Kirk helping two Detroit runs home for an 8-0 lead.

Toronto's traffic never became a threat

The Blue Jays were not shut down completely, but they were kept narrow. They managed six hits and three walks, yet every hit was a single. That matters. Six total bases from six hits is the profile of an offense that has to string several events together in one inning, and against Detroit's pitching Toronto rarely did. Through seven innings, Drew Anderson and Jacob Waguespack combined to allow only three hits and three walks while keeping the Blue Jays scoreless.

Toronto's only run arrived in the eighth, when Brett Bateman scored on Kirk's single to center after George Springer had reached and moved into scoring position. Bateman's two-hit night stood out, and Springer also reached twice, but the lineup never found a bigger swing. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 0-for-3 with a walk, and the club finished with 12 runners left on base and one ground-ball double play. Even the brief opening against Kyle Finnegan did not develop into a rally, because Brant Hurter came on to finish the game with 1.2 scoreless innings.

Our take: this result reads like a lesson in how small losses accumulate. Toronto can reasonably look first at the extra chances it gave away, because eight Tigers walks, one catcher interference and two Blue Jays errors are too much assistance to offer a lineup that is already seeing the ball well. Offensively, the fix is less dramatic than dramatic language would suggest: create more impact when runners do reach. The Blue Jays put nine men on base, but with no doubles and no homers, the margin for error was almost nonexistent. Detroit, by contrast, built its night on patience first and power second, and that is why a close game through three innings ended as a rout by the ninth.

Scoring moments

1. 4th Inning

   Clark doubled to left, Greene scored, Valencia to third.

2. 4th Inning

   Torkelson homered to left center (379 feet), Valencia scored and Clark scored.

3. 5th Inning

   Greene singled to right, McGonigle scored, Lee to third.

4. 6th Inning

   Peck singled to right, Torkelson scored, Peck out stretching at second.

5. 8th Inning

   Clark to home on throwing error by catcher Kirk and Torkelson to home on error.

6. 8th Inning

   Clark to home on throwing error by catcher Kirk and Torkelson to home on error.

7. 8th Inning

   Clark to home on throwing error by catcher Kirk and Torkelson to home on error.

8. 8th Inning

   Kirk singled to center, Bateman scored, Springer to second.

9. 9th Inning

   Lee homered to left (408 feet).

10. 9th Inning

    Clark singled to center, Malgeri scored, Valencia to third.