 allowed two hits, walked two and struck out seven. The right-hander signed a one-year deal with Toronto over the winter after spending his first six seasons with the Angels.Combined with Marcus Stroman's seven scoreless innings Thursday, Shoemaker gave the Blue Jays a team record for consecutive shutout innings by starting pitchers to open the season. Toronto's previous best was eight innings, set by Jack Morris in 1992.Javy Guerra finished with two perfect innings for Toronto.Montoyo was Tampa Bay's bench coach last year. He was hired to succeed John Gibbons as Toronto's manager.Matt Boyd (0-1) struck out 10 in five innings.After establishing a team record for futility with a 13-inning scoreless drought to begin the season, the Blue Jays broke through with a four-run fourth. Teoscar Hernandez broke the skid with an RBI single, and Billy McKinney scored from first when center fielder Mikie Mahtook bobbled a bases-loaded single by Galvis.Mahtook also failed to corral Brandon Drury's leadoff triple in the first inning, although Boyd struck out the next three batters. Those were the first in a stretch that saw Boyd fan seven of nine.Smoak made it 6-0 with a two-out, two-run single off Blaine Hardy in the seventh.Detroit's Nicholas Castellanos was left stranded after a one-out double in the fourth, then got caught in a rundown after reaching on a one-out triple in the sixth. Castellanos was the only Tigers player to get a hit.TRAINER'S ROOMTigers: Minor league RHP Franklin Perez, one of Detroit's top pitching prospects, is expected to miss four to six weeks because of tendinitis in his right shoulder. Perez missed much of 2018 because of shoulder and back injuries. He was acquired from Houston in 2017 as part of the package for Justin Verlander.Blue Jays: Montoyo said Toronto's starters will likely be limited to between 80 and 100 pitches per outing through the end of April.UP NEXTTigers: RHP Spencer Turnbull was 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five spring training games, including two starts.Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez has a 1.50 ERA in seven career games against Detroit, four of them starts.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Blue Jays, Tigers look for jolt at plate The Toronto Blue Jays and the visiting Detroit Tigers will be searching to find their hitting strokes when they play their second game of the season Friday night.The teams combined for only six hits -- four by Detroit -- in the Tigers' 2-0 Opening Day win at Toronto on Thursday.The Tigers found enough offense in the 10th inning when Niko Goodrum's double was followed by Christin Stewart's home run against reliever Daniel Hudson, who was making his Toronto debut, to squeeze out a victory.A combination of good pitching and Opening Day eagerness probably contributed to the lack of hitting."Everybody wants to do well, and everybody wants to hit a six-run homer probably on Opening Day," Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. "And you have to just take a step back and, you know what, pitchers, that's what they do, they read hitters." The highlight of the first game of the season was 6 2/3 innings of perfection by Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann. The only base runner he allowed was on a two-out infield single to shortstop in the seventh inning by Teoscar Hernandez. Zimmermann struck out four in his seven innings and needed only 70 pitches.Toronto's Charlie Montoyo had a nail-biter for major-league debut as a manager."I enjoyed every minute of it," he said.Toronto starter Marcus Stroman also was strong, allowing two hits and four walks while striking out seven in seven innings."That's what I like about our team," Montoyo said. "Our pitching gives us a chance to win every game." Left-hander Matthew Boyd will make Friday's start for Detroit while Matt Shoemaker will make his Blue Jays debut.Boyd started five games in spring training and was 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA and 20 strikeouts over 18 innings. The former Blue Jays prospect was dealt to the Tigers as part of the deal that sent David Price to Toronto during the 2015 season.Boyd will be making his sixth career start against the Blue Jays. He is 0-1 with a 4.30 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings in the four starts. In two starts against Toronto last season, he was 0-0 with a 4.85 ERA with 10 strikeouts in 13 innings.Boyd has made five career starts with Toronto and Detroit at the Rogers Centre and is 0-3 with a 7.61 ERA. He has 24 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings.Shoemaker was signed to a one-year contract during the offseason after the right-hander had pitched for the Los Angeles Angels from 2013-18. He was limited to 14 starts in 2017 and seven starts in 2018 because of a forearm injury.He has had success against the Tigers, going 3-1 with a 0.83 ERA in five career starts, allowing 21 hits and striking out 30 in 32 2/3 innings. He last faced the Tigers in 2017 when he held them to three hits and no runs over six innings.Shoemaker was 0-0 with a 5.00 ERA in five outings this spring training, allowing 12 hits and striking out 20 in 18 innings.--Field Level Media
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