Happ is the fourth Blue Jays pitcher to win 12 or more games before the All-Star break.
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Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion has dropped his appeal of a one-game suspension for making contact with umpire Vic Carapazza and will sit out Toronto’s final game before the All-Star break, Sunday against Detroit.
Victor Martinez ended a tie with a home run in the eighth inning and the Detroit Tigers stopped the Toronto Blue Jays’ winning streak at seven games with a 3-2 victory on Saturday. Canadian Michael Saunders, who hopes to be voted into the all-star game by fans in an online ballot, was 2 for 4 with three runs and a run batted in.
He was 2-5 with a 2.25 ERA in 11 starts for Triple-A Toledo and is 1-5 with a 5.77 ERA in six starts for the Tigers.
Aaron Sanchez didn’t have his All-Star stuff on Saturday.
That means that in order to avoid a sweep at the hands of another American League foe, the Tigers will need to rely on Boyd, who has been inconsistent in his brief stints with the big club this season, and Sanchez, whose performances have been so erratic that he has been sent to the bullpen not just once, but twice already in the first half.
R.A. Dickey – The Blue Jays knuckleball pitcher navigated his way through the Tigers lineup, working his way out of a first and fifth-inning jam. Dickey (7-9) retired nine of the final 10 hitters he faced.
And there was one last magic moment for the Jays, even though that offence sputtered in a 3-2 loss to Detroit.
“He did an excellent job”, Ausmus said.
Sanchez got into a jam in the second inning, loading the bases on a Justin Upton bloop single to right. Detroit starter Matt Boyd allowed a run on four hits and a pair of BB with four relievers tossing an inning each.
“I thought he was a little off today with his off-speed, particularly his breaking ball, but he held them in check”, manager John Gibbons said. I think he’s just scratching the surface, I really do. Boyd will face his old team in a spot start this afternoon for the Tigers, who are now 7-1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. “He did exactly what we needed him to do”. Martinez tried to score after Steven Moya lined out to left, but was thrown out at home on a ideal throw by Carrera to Russell Martin.
– It could have been worse, as Sanchez got a double play before leaving runners on the corners in the third inning.
Brandon Crawford drove in three runs and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle, Jeff Samardzija overcame a shaky first inning to win and the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-2.
Conversely, Nick Castellanos notched another base hit on Saturday, extending his modest hitting streak to five games and reaching base safely in 13 of his last 15 games. It’s the fourth time the Blue Jays have hit 50 wins before the break. They have won 17 of their past 24 games overall and eight of their past 11 at home.
Joe Biagini replaced Sanchez for the sixth and pitched two scoreless innings.
Blue Jays: OF Jose Bautista (left big toe) has begun hitting off a tee, Gibbons said.
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The win also takes some pressure off Anibal Sanchez, who has struggled badly all season. INF Ryan Goins, who went on the DL with a strained forearm after pitching an inning of relief in Toronto’s 19-inning loss to Cleveland on July 1, has resumed throwing.
