LAKELAND, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays delivered an explosive offensive performance, defeating the Detroit Tigers 13-3 in spring training action on Monday. Off-season acquisitions Anthony Santander and Andres Gimenez led the charge, with Santander driving in three runs and Gimenez adding two more. Alejandro Kirk and Joey Loperfido also contributed with key run-scoring hits as the Blue Jays improved to 6-3 this spring.
Jose Berrios started for Toronto, pitching 2 2/3 shutout innings to lower his ERA to 1.69. He allowed three hits and two walks while striking out three. On the other side, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal was sharp in his three innings, giving up just one hit and striking out three. However, the Blue Jays’ offense came alive after Skubal exited.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sparked the rally with a leadoff double in the fourth, and Santander followed with an RBI single. Gimenez then tripled to drive in Santander and later scored on a single by Kirk, ending Tigers reliever Jason Foley’s outing.
Toronto continued to pile on in the fifth, with Santander delivering a two-run double and Gimenez adding an RBI ground-rule double. The Blue Jays added three more runs in the seventh, highlighted by Loperfido’s RBI triple and a fielding error that allowed him to score.
Detroit finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run single from Carlos Mendoza and an RBI single from Roberto Campos. However, Toronto extended their lead in the eighth with a two-run single from Rainer Nunez and capped the scoring in the ninth with a two-run homer by Myles Straw.
The Blue Jays have a day off Tuesday before facing the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday in Bradenton,
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