Music: {allcanada} Detroit rocks Toronto

Thursday, August 26, 2010

{allcanada} Detroit rocks Toronto

TORONTO -- Jhonny Peralta hit a three-run homer and Max Scherzer threw eight strong innings as the Detroit Tigers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 on Thursday.

Gerald Laird also went deep with a two-run shot for the Tigers (64-64), who took the opener of a four-game weekend series at Rogers Centre.

Jose Bautista accounted for the Blue Jays offence, blasting a solo shot in the seventh for his 100th career homer run in front of a meek crowd of 16,088. He now leads the majors with 41 long balls.

Scherzer (10-9) put on a clinic, scattering six hits while walking one and fanning eight to earn his fourth straight victory. The red-hot right-hander has allowed two runs or fewer in six consecutive outings.

Left-hander Ricky Romero (10-8) threw 5 2/3 innings. giving up four hits and six runs -- three earned -- while walking five and striking out four. Romero missed earning a career high-tying fourth straight win and is now 1-3 in four starts against the Tigers all-time.

The Blue Jays are now 66-61 and sit fourth in the AL East, 12 games back of the Yankees and Rays who were both idle Thursday night.

Tigers second baseman Ramon Santiago led off the fourth with a left-field single just out of Edwin Encarnacion's reach. Johnny Damon, who endeared himself to Detroit fans only days earlier by spurning a waiver claim by the Boston Red Sox, then advanced on a walk before Miguel Cabrera's sacrifice fly got Santiago to third with one out.

When Ryan Raburn's smacked the ball to third base, Encarnacion's throw to second was out of Aaron Hill's reach and Santiago scored the Tigers' first run. With runners on first and third, Peralta cracked the first fastball Romero gave him for a three-run homer into left field and a 4-0 Detroit lead. It was Peralta's 13th homer this season.

The Tigers weren't finished roughing up Romero. After getting Brandon Inge to ground out, Romero then walked Casper Wells to bring on Detroit catcher Laird, who took the lefty deep with a two-run shot over the fence -- his fourth of the season -- to clear the bases again and pad the lead 6-0.

After whiffing Raburn and Peralta in the sixth, Romero walked Inge and Wells prompting manager Cita Gaston to make a change and bring in right-hander Casey Janssen with two outs left and two runners on. Janssen got Laird line out and end the Tigers threat.

Detroit added a run in the seventh when Austin Jackson and Santiago reached on singles, bringing up Damon who also singled to load the bases and put Janssen in a jam with no outs. Cabrera lined one right into Escobar's glove, Raburn struck out, but Janssen walked Peralta on a full count to bring in another Tigers run.

The Blue Jays didn't get their first hit of the game until two outs in the third when Freddy Lewis reached on a single to right field. Lewis then swiped second for his 14th steal of the season, but wasn't fast enough when he attempted to take third, as Laird gunned him down to end the inning.

Scherzer reached 10 wins for the first time in his career.

The Blue Jays, who are 2-3 this season versus Detroit, still lead the majors with 193 home runs this season, 108 of them coming at Rogers Centre.

NOTES: Tigers RHP Justin Verlander (14-8, 3.65) will take on fellow right-hander Shaun Marcum (11-7, 3.70) in Friday's game. ... Vernon Wells is four hits shy of 1500 for his career. His 1496 hits rank second on the all-time club list (Tony Fernandez leads with 1583). ... John Buck leads all AL catchers with 14 home runs. ... The Jays and Tigers play each other a total of eight times this season, with four at Rogers Centre and four at Comerica Park. ... Coming into Thursday, the Tigers have belted multiple home runs in each of the last seven games on the road, totalling 17 during that stretch. It's the longest streak of multiple home runs on the road in Tigers franchise history.