Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Sports

Dontrelle Willis shuts down Jays

Dontrelle Willis overcame a shaky start and allowed just one run in four innings Thursday to lead the Detroit Tigers past the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-1.
Advocate Staff
Dontrelle Willis
Detroit Tigers pitcher Dontrell Willis walks off the mound after the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Lakeland

Tigers 5 Blue Jays 1

LAKELAND, Fla. — Dontrelle Willis overcame a shaky start and allowed just one run in four innings Thursday to lead the Detroit Tigers past the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-1.

Willis, who is competing for one of the final two spots in the Tigers’ rotation with Nate Robertson and Jeremy Bonderman, walked three, but allowed only one hit. His spring training ERA rose to 1.20.

Willis walked the first two Blue Jays of the game and worked out of a jam with runners on second and third to retire the side.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland wouldn’t speculate on his opening day rotation, but said that he was pleased with Willis’s command of his pitches, not his control.