Jays lose Liriano in blowout
DETROIT— Euphoria in baseball is akin to a pulled hamstring. Most times it’s day-to-day.
On Saturday the Blue Jays dropped a no-doubter to the Tigers, 11-1 at Comerica Park. That came less than 24 hours after a convincing victory emerging from the allstar break that had the visitors’ clubhouse vibrating with feel-good bravado.
“There’s no doubt that the lows of the losses last longer than the highs of the wins,” Jays manager John Gibbons said. “No doubt about that.”
The Jays may also have lost left-handed starter Francisco Liriano to injury, one day after righty Aaron Sanchez had turned in an encouraging six-inning effort coming back from finger issues. The initial diagnosis for the 33-year-old was neck tightness that did not appear serious.
“Muscle spasms. We’ll have a little better idea tomorrow or the next couple of days, I’d think,” Gibbons said.
“He didn’t last long. You could tell it started to affect him. We’ve seen bouts of wildness occasionally, but he really lost it.
“Hopefully it’s no big deal and just one of those things, slept wrong or something.”
After walking the bases full of Tigers to begin the third, pitching coach Pete Walker strolled to the mound to visit with Liriano. Two pitches later — both balls ending in awkward, stumbling pirouettes off to the third-base side — catcher Russ Martin stepped in front of the plate, looked to the dugout and the training staff emerged. That was it for Liriano after 52 pitches, less than half strikes.
“In that last inning, you could definitely sense that something wasn’t right,” Martin said of Liriano. “He just looked like he wasn’t comfortable. The velocity seemed fine. It just didn’t look like he was finishing his pitches like he normally does.
“He’s not typically the most accurate pitcher. He’s a stuff guy: good slider, good changeup, good fastball in the mix. Something seemed just a little bit off.”
On this night, Liriano, in a contract year, allowed five runs on two hits with four walks and two strikeouts in two-plus innings. It was Liriano’s eighth start since returning from the disabled list on June 2 following an earlier shoulder problem. It was also his fifth start of fewer than five innings among 15 outings, averaging 42⁄ innings.
3 “I couldn’t tell what it was at first, but he’s a warrior out there,” Martin said. “We talked about a few things, but you don’t want to be too aggressive, especially when you’re not feeling right. I think he did the right thing.”
The Jays produced their only run without a hit in the fourth inning, on a grounder to short by Josh Donaldson that scored Jose Bautista from third.
The Tigers emerging ace, Michael Fulmer, allowed just two hits over eight innings. In two career starts against Toronto, he’s 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA, allowing just four hits in 14 innings. He is 10-6 for the season.
“He’s one of the best young pitchers in the game,” Gibbons said of his team’s quiet bats. “He gets a lead like that — the good ones, they’re not going to give in.”
The Tigers opened the scoring in the first on a solo homer by Nick Castellanos. They added one in the second. In the third inning, after Liriano was replaced by Mike Bolsinger with the sacks full, all three inherited runners scored.
Miguel Cabrera, having a subpar season with personal issues on his mind related to the unrest at home in Venezuela, hammered a two-run homer off Bolsinger in the sixth to cap a three-run inning. Cabrera is hitting .267 with 12 homers and 43 RBIs.
J.D. Martinez crashed a three-run homer in the eighth off Aaron Loup to complete a rout that on this night saw the Tigers burning bright.