 had not won since beating the New York Yankees last Sept. 24 in Toronto's final home game of the 2017 season.Making his second start after missing 39 games because of a sore shoulder, Stroman allowed two runs and five hits, lowering his ERA from 6.80 to 6.20. The right-hander struck out four and didn't issue a walk for the first time in nine starts this season.Seunghwan Oh pitched the eighth and Tyler Clippard gave up an infield single to begin the ninth but retired the next three batters in order for his fifth save in nine chances.Detroit opened the scoring when JaCoby Jones scored on Dixon Machado's double play groundout in the third, but the Blue Jays answered with a three-run fourth, with the first six batters reaching safely against Detroit's Francisco Liriano.Smoak hit his 10th home run and first since June 3 at Detroit, and Randal Grichuk added a two-out RBI single.Tigers infielder Jeimer Candelario cut it to 3-2 with a solo homer, his team-leading 12th, to begin the seventh.Liriano (3-4) allowed three runs in six innings to lose his third straight decision. The left-hander is winless in seven starts since a victory at Baltimore on April 28.TRAINER'S ROOMTigers: LHP Daniel Stumpf (ulnar nerve) allowed one run and two hits in one inning at Triple-A Toledo. It was the first time Stumpf had pitched in back-to-back games since beginning his rehab assignment June 19.Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez (right index finger) has not been able to throw since landing on the 10-day disabled list June 22 and is unlikely to be ready to return when eligible Monday, manager John Gibbons said. ... Toronto selected utilityman Darnell Sweeney from Triple-A Buffalo to take the roster spot of OF Steve Pearce, who was traded to Boston on Thursday.UP NEXTTigers LHP Matthew Boyd (4-6, 4.15) faces Blue Jays RHP Sam Gaviglio (2-2, 3.98). Boyd is 0-3 with an 8.66 ERA in four career starts at Toronto. Gaviglio is winless in five starts since beating Philadelphia on May 25.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
TICKETSTICKETSTigers take nine-game skid into series opener vs. Blue Jays 6h ago• 3 min read TORONTO -- A year ago at this time, Francisco Liriano was pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays amid speculation that he would be traded.The left-hander is again a subject of trade speculation as he returns to the Rogers Centre on Friday night as the starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, who will try to end a nine-game losing streak in the opener of a four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays.The Tigers (36-46) lost 4-2 to the Oakland Athletics at Comerica Park on Thursday afternoon. The Blue Jays (37-43) had the day off after completing a 3-4 trip with a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to the Houston Astros on Wednesday on Alex Bregman's two-run, walk-off homer.Both teams are expected to trade some veteran players by the July 31 deadline for deals without waivers.Liriano (3-3, 3.94 ERA) will face Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (0-5, 6.80). Both pitchers will make their second start after returning from the disabled list.The Blue Jays did trade Liriano on July 31 to the Astros, who went on to win the World Series. In the deal, Toronto received outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, who has become a regular.Liriano signed with the Tigers as a free agent on Feb. 23.He will make his 12th start of the season in the series opener. Liriano went on the DL with a strained right hamstring after making his start on May 26 and did not pitch again until Saturday when he took the loss at Cleveland, allowing three runs (two earned), four hits and three walks in four innings.All of the runs came in a 40-pitch first inning. He did not allow another hit in the next three innings."I was rushing things," Liriano said. "I hadn't pitched in a while and I was trying to do too much, trying to do more than I can do, and I ended up missing pitches. ... Everything feels great. Leg feels good, body feels nice." The 34-year-old has faced the Blue Jays seven times in his career, including five starts, going 1-4 with a 5.40 ERA. He last pitched against Toronto on Aug. 5 with Houston when he took the loss after allowing one run, one hit and one walk in two-thirds of an inning in relief.In 18 career appearances, including 17 starts, at the Rogers Centre, Liriano is 8-4 record with a 4.03 ERA and 98 strikeouts.Stroman also returned from the DL on Saturday when he allowed six hits and one walk while striking out five in five scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Angels. He did not factor in the decision of a game the Blue Jays won 4-1.He had not pitched since May 8 because of inflammation in his right shoulder, a problem that shortened his spring training. Stroman believes that in retrospect he probably should have taken a couple of more weeks to build up the shoulder before starting to pitch in the regular season."When I'm going good, I feel like I'm pitching at 80, 85 percent and that's where I'm at right now," Stroman said. "Earlier in the season, I was max effort, I was pitching at 100 percent every pitch and now I'm back to being very free and easy. Once I'm free and easy, I can do whatever I want." Stroman said the shoulder "feels way better." "I'm moving way easier, I can pause, I can mess with my delivery now, I can do many things I wasn't able to do previously in the year," he added. "Feels great." In two career starts against the Tigers, he is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA.The Tigers won two of three games against the Blue Jays at Comerica Park on June 1-3. Detroit will try to win its first season series against Toronto since 2013. The Tigers lost two of three games at the Rogers Centre last season, the fourth straight series they have dropped in Toronto.
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