Victor Reyes hit a go-ahead, inside-the-park home run in the eighth inning and the host Detroit Tigers downed the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 on Friday.
Reyes led off the inning against Tim Mayza (4-2). He hit a sinking liner that skipped under the glove of diving center fielder Josh Palacios and bounced to the wall as Reyes circled the bases.
Jeimer Candelario had two doubles and scored a run and Miguel Cabrera added an RBI single for Detroit. Jose Cisnero (3-4) pitched an inning of scoreless relief to collect the win and Gregory Soto recorded his16th save.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits and drove in Toronto’s only run.
Tigers starter Matt Manning lasted six innings, giving up the run on six hits while striking out five. Blue Jays starter Steven Matz allowed a run on four hits and didn’t issue a walk in six innings.
Matz gave up a two-out double to Candelario in the first but then retired Cabrera on a groundout.
Corey Dickerson and Lourdes Gurriel hit back-to-back singles to lead off the second for Toronto. A grounder moved both runners into scoring position but Manning then set down the next two batters on a pop out and strike out.
Toronto scored in the third when Bo Bichette led off with a double and scored on Guerrero’s one-out double.
Tigers center fielder Derek Hill robbed Kevin Smith of a possible home run in the fourth with a leaping catch at the wall.
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Detroit tied it in the fourth. Candelario hit a ground-rule double to center and scored on Cabrera’s single to center.
Toronto had a pair of baserunners with two out in the fifth. Manning struck out Teoscar Hernandez to snuff out that threat.
The Tigers had a prime scoring chance in the seventh when Eric Haase singled with one out and reached third on an errant pickoff attempt by Adam Cimber. The reliever held off the Tigers by retiring Daz Cameron on a comebacker and Willi Castro on a popup.
–Field Level Media