Detroit 10 Toronto 5
TORONTO — Max Scherzer wasn’t at his best Monday, but against Brandon Morrow he was good enough to win his sixth game of the season.
The Detroit Tigers chased Morrow in a six-run fourth inning, keyed by Austin Jackson’s three-run double on their way to a 10-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Jackson had four runs batted in and Victor Martinez had two doubles and knocked in a two-run homer against Octavio Dotel in the seventh to finish with three RBIs.
“We were just patient on (Morrow),” said Jackson whose bases-loaded double came against Shawn Camp.
“He’s a good pitcher and he has a good arm and has good off-speed stuff and toward the end of the inning he was getting a little erratic and we weren’t swinging at bad pitches.”
After losing the first game of the four-game series the Tigers won the next three.
Scherzer (6-0) allowed two runs in five innings to tie Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels for wins in the American League.
“The offence came alive today and we were able to get a big lead on them,” Scherzer said. “When the Tigers win, I’m happy. I just really wasn’t sharp today. I didn’t really have command of any of my pitches.”
Morrow (1-2) allowed five runs on three hits and three walks while striking out six in 3 1-3 innings to raise his earned-run average to 4.71. He wasn’t happy about being removed after 71 pitches, even though only 39 were strikes.
“I wasn’t feeling fatigued,” Morrow said. “I think that maybe I started trying to make pitches to get myself a ground ball, something along those lines, when I didn’t have my greatest stuff.
“I didn’t want to come out. I would have liked the chance to stay in and work my way out of it.”
Blue Jays manager John Farell knew his starter would’ve liked more time on the mound.
“I’m sure he wasn’t pleased to come out of the game in the fourth inning,” said Farrell.
“He’s a competitor. So as that game and that inning started to unfold and he was 32 pitches deep into that inning, no starting pitcher wants to come out that early.”
It started well for Toronto. Yunel Escobar’s solo homer in the third gave Toronto a 2-0 lead.
Jose Bautista started the scoring with a first-inning double to centre that brought home Corey Patterson. Escobar led off the first with a single and was forced at second by Patterson.
But Morrow, who allowed a hit and a walk in the first three innings, did not survive Detroit’s six-run fourth. Things began to unravel when his wild pitch allowed Brennan Boesch to reach first on a strikeout.
Miguel Cabrera walked. Martinez doubled home a run. Don Kelly singled in another run. Morrow was removed for Camp after Alex Avila walked to load the bases. The reliever struck out Ryan Raburn before giving up Jackson’s three-run double.
“Huge,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “Biggest hit of the game.”
Ramon Santiago followed with a double.
Farrell said he noticed a drop in Morrow’s velocity and a drop in his arm slot.
“And really from late in the second inning on I thought he had a hard time getting the ball down in the strike zone,” Farrell said. “So as his velocity dropped, I also saw his arm slot drop and as a result at that time the decision was made to remove him from the game.”
Martinez hit his third homer of the season against Dotel in the four-run seventh. Dotel hit Kelly with a pitch on the foot and the third baseman left for pinch-runner Brandon Inge. Kelly has a bruise on his right ankle, although he said he was fine after the game.
The Blue Jays scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth after Ryan Perry, who had not pitched for a week, walked the bases loaded. Patterson scored two with a double. But Escobar was thrown out at home trying to score on the hit as well. Edwin Encarnacion singled in a run with two outs. After Perry hit Aaron Hill with a pitch, closer Jose Valverde entered.
Notes: Attendance at Rogers Centre was 11,785. ...First baseman Adam Lind was scheduled to have more tests after he was not in the starting lineup for the second game in a row on Monday because of lower back tightness. It forced him out of Saturday’s no-hitter by Detroit’s Justin Verlander after two at- bats and although he said it was improved on Sunday he did not play. ...The Blue Jays may be stealing more bases but are actually doing a worse job of taking the extra base while running the bases (going first to third or second to home on singles and first to home on doubles), doing so only 34 per cent of the time against a league-average of 40 per cent. Last year they took the extra base at a 36 per cent rate and two years ago 40 per cent and both seasons the league average was 39 per cent . ...The Blue Jays are home to the Boston Red Sox for two games starting Tuesday when Kyle Drabek (2-2, 4.50 ERA) is scheduled to face left-hander Jon Lester (4-1, 2.33).