Adam Lind and Jesse Litsch shine as Toronto Blue Jays beat Detroit Tigers 7-4 – MLB Update
Toronto Blue Jays’ designated hitter Adam Lind and starter Jesse Litsch both had a notable day as Lind struck a homer while Litsch pitched six solid innings in the Blue Jays’ 7-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre in Toronto on May 6.
Litsch allowed just one run on four hits and had nine strike-outs which were considered his career high strike-outs. He said of Lind’s performance and his pitching tactics, “He's hitting home runs, he's doing it all right now. A lot of them were cutters.
They were just going straight down. That's where I want to be.”
The Tigers were unable to put a run on the scoreboard in the first inning as their runners got out at first and second base. While the Blue Jays were dominant right through the first inning and took the lead 3-0 when Lind hit towards the left-field area
and J.P. Arencibia followed a single on contribution with Juan Rivera to add three runs. The scorecard did not move in the second inning.
The Jays extended their lead 4-0 in the third inning when Rivera took off a single on the double-run shot of Arencibia towards the right-centre field area. The Tigers opened their scoring account in the fourth inning when Victor Martinez singled on the RBI
grounder of Jhonny Peralta to reduce the lead 4-1. Brennan Boesch was unable to contribute any run for the Tigers as he was thrown out on the second base.
The fifth and sixth inning passed away without any score from both sides. Then, Lind struck a one-run homer in the seventh inning to further extend the lead to 5-1. Lind went 21-for-44 and batted with an average of .477. He has 27 RBIs in his baseball career.
The Tigers’ Manager Jim Leyland had a huge ovation for Lind but was disappointed from his team’s performance. Speaking to reporters, he said, “He's obviously a very powerful guy but he's got tremendous balance with just a great swing. He's been swinging
exceptionally well. We didn't get anything to show for it and they end up getting three on the board. We didn't do a whole lot with him.”
The eighth inning also went in favour of the Jays as Corey Patterson hit two RBI singles and went 3-for-5. Edwin Encarnacion and Mike McCoy both added two runs collectively and led off the Jays by 7-1 in the eighth inning. The Tigers cut-off their deficit
to 7-4 in the ninth inning by scoring runs against the Jays’ reliever Shawn Camp. Brandon Inge drove a shot for a double RBI and Scott Sizemore added one RBI single in the Tigers’ trail.
The Tigers’ starter Phil Coke gave away four runs on 11 hits in six innings pitched.
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