Blue Jays Rock Skubal, Take 2 of 3 from Tigers

Toronto scored early and often on route to a decisive 6-0 victory.

DETROIT — It's simple to see why the Blue Jays have encountered left-handed pitching less frequently than any team in baseball.

Toronto’s lineup is loaded with dangerous righties; most of the order can hit for power, and Blue Jays’ hitters are superior at picking up the ball against southpaws. When facing lefties, the Jays have the fourth-best OPS (.763), best walk rate (11.4%), and eighth-best strikeout rate (20.8%) in baseball.

The Tigers sent talented young lefty Tarik Skubal to the hill in Sunday’s 6-0 Blue Jays win. Skubal, the Tigers' lone healthy starter this year, entered the game with a 2.33 ERA and an excellent 70:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Skubal held Toronto at bay until the fourth inning, when Bo Bichette singled—he has 28 hits in his last 21 games—to bring up Vladimir Guerrero Jr.. The Blue Jays' first baseman is slugging .528 against fastballs this year, and when Skubal grooved a ball inside, Guerrero took advantage.

The deep blast landed a Statcast-projected 421 feet deep in left-center, opening the scoring and knocking Skubal off his game momentarily. The Tigers' left-hander retired Alejandro Kirk with a nasty changeup, then served up doubles to Teoscar Hernández, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Cavan Biggio. When all was done, Toronto plated four runs in the fourth inning off Skubal.

"We got to Skubal, and that was huge," Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. "Of course, Vladdy with the two-run homer and good at-bats from Biggio. So that was good to see."

Biggio’s towering RBI double was significant for the Jays and for Biggio himself. With Matt Chapman missing his second game due to a sore wrist, Biggio got a rare chance to slot into the lineup against a left-handed pitcher.

Biggio owns a career .384 OBP against left-handers, largely due to his enhanced eye, but struggles to hit for power against southpaws. A 104-mph double to right-center field off a talented lefty was an encouraging development for Biggio, whose month-of-June OPS before Sunday sat at .921. He'd double again in the eighth.

The Blue Jays also got a gem of an outing from starter Ross Stripling, who tossed six innings of one-run ball.

"It's throwing any pitch in any count," Stripling said of his recipe for success. "Keeping them off balance, but also filling up the zone and wanting them to hit it, and trusting the defense behind you. I think that's the way to stay efficient."

Stripling worked with mad efficiency all afternoon, dropping his changeup in (he got three of four strikeouts on that pitch) and needing just 74 pitches to dice through the Tigers’ order three times.

That’s back-to-back shutout starts from Stripling, who has become a permanent fixture in the Jays’ rotation with Hyun Jin Ryu on the injured list.

Overall, two of three from the Tigers on the road is acceptable for Toronto. It was a fun weekend for the team—Gabriel Moreno made his MLB debut and recorded his first hit Saturday, though he went 0-for-3 Sunday.

The Blue Jays will get another chance to gain ground in the AL East, as some fresh meat comes to town Monday when Toronto hosts the Orioles for a four-game set.