Toronto – For nearly eight innings Thursday, it looked as if the Tigers’ Justin Verlander would steal an evening series-opener at Rogers Centre and give the Tigers a beachhead heading into a weekend when their pitching rotation is not far from being declared a disaster area.
But just when the Tigers’ bullpen had shown signs of cooperating, an inning, and a game, blew up on Detroit when the Blue Jays scored twice in the eighth to pop the Tigers, 5-4, in front of 46,283 who had jammed into Rogers Centre on a hot, muggy night along Lake Ontario’s shores.