Smoak led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Detroit 4-3 on Saturday, handing the Tigers their 11th straight loss.
”Honestly, nobody wants to play extra innings,” Smoak said. ”To be able to do it in the ninth and get it over with is always a good feeling.”
This is Detroit’s longest losing streak since an 11-game skid in August 2003, the year the Tigers lost 119 times. The Tigers last lost 12 straight in 1996.
Three of Detroit’s 11 defeats, including the past two, have been one-run losses. The Tigers are 13-13 in one-run decisions.
”There’s things we can do better but we’re not playing bad,” Tigers starter Matt Boyd said. ”It may seem dire, but it’s not. We’re close to where we want to be and we’re going to come out on the other end of this.”
Smoak connected against reliever Joe Jimenez (3-1) for his 11th homer of the season. It was the second walk-off drive of his career, with the other coming in 2016 against Texas.
Smoak, who hit a two-run homer in Friday’s 3-2 win Jason Verrett Jersey , has gone deep in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
”I’m just trying to be aggressive and it’s been better as of late,” he said.
Seunghwan Oh (4-2) worked one inning for the win. Randal Grichuk also homered for the Blue Jays, who have won 10 of 11 at home.
John Hicks hit a solo homer in the Detroit second off Sam Gaviglio and Nick Castellanos made it 3-0 with a two-run shot in the third, his 12th.
Boyd held the Blue Jays hitless until Kevin Pillar’s leadoff double in the fifth. Pillar moved to third on a one-out single by Aledmys Diaz and scored on a groundout by Devon Travis before Grichuk hit his tying homer.
”He was leaving the ball up just a little too much where they could get the bat head to it,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said.
Boyd allowed three runs and four hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
”I made a few mistakes today and one of them went over the fence,” Boyd said.
Gaviglio gave up three runs and four hits in seven innings, matching his longest outing of the season.
Leonys Martin and Castellanos hit consecutive singles off Joe Biagini in the eighth but the Blue Jays right-hander retired the next three batters in order.
”We had runners in position a couple of times,” Gardenhire said. ”We just didn’t come up with the big one.”
Martin helped preserve the 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth by throwing out Travis at home plate. Travis was trying to score from second on Yangervis Solarte’s single to center, but couldn’t beat Martin’s one-hop throw. The assist was Martin’s ninth, tying him with Seattle’s Mitch Haniger for the AL lead.
With a heat alert in place for Toronto, the retractable roof at Rogers Centre was kept closed. The outdoor temperature was 88 degrees Jordan Whitehead Jersey , with high humidity making it feel like 106.
CAGED TIGERS
Detroit has lost 12 of 14 in Toronto.
CRIME DOESN’T PAY
Blue Jays C Luke Maile threw out two runners attempting to steal, both at second base. Maile threw out Jeimer Candelario in the first and Grayson Greiner in the seventh.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: RHP Alex Wilson had to leave in the eighth because of a sore left calf. Wilson missed almost a month earlier this season because of a strain in his left foot. … RHP Drew VerHagen (nasal fracture) will join Triple A Toledo Saturday night to begin an injury rehabilitation assignment. VerHagen has been out since June 20.
Blue Jays: Toronto put RHP Ryan Tepera (elbow) on the 10-day disabled list and recalled RHP Jake Petricka from Triple-A Buffalo.
UP NEXT
Tigers RHP Jordan Zimmermann (2-0, 4.35) faces Blue Jays LHP J.A. Happ (10-3, 3.62) on Canada Day in Toronto. Zimmermann allowed seven runs in his previous start against Toronto on June 8, 2016. Happ has won six straight decisions and is unbeaten in eight outings.
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The Atlanta Falcons will look at their current roster to replace Keanu Neal, the safety who will miss the remainder of the season after tearing a ligament in his left knee Thursday night in an 18-12 opening loss at Philadelphia .
Coach Dan Quinn said Friday he and general manager Thomas Dimitroff discussed outside options that could include free agent Pro Bowl safety Eric Reid.
"We have talked about that," Quinn said when asked specifically about Reid.
Quinn didn't rule out looking to acquire help in the future, but he said the first option would be a combination of Damontae Kazee, who replaced Neal in the game, and Jordan Richards, a safety who was acquired from the New England Patriots on Aug. 31.
"We'd like to go in-house first Jimmy Smith Jersey ," Quinn said. "The reason is the presence of Jordan and the emergence of Kazee. We'll go down that road first. Then they'll definitely be, when you put a player down for the year on IR, there will be some opportunities that we could look at as well. But from a starting standpoint look in-house first."
The loss of Neal, a leader on the defense who was selected to his first Pro Bowl in 2017, is a major blow to the Atlanta defense.
"It's very disappointing," defensive end Takkarist McKinley said following a team meeting on Friday. "He is a leader on this team, our best player. Losing him, someone else has got to step up. We've all got to step up."
Friday's news was especially devastating because the initial diagnosis of the Falcons medical staff, which Quinn relayed to reporters following the game, was the injury wasn't believed to be serious. The team learned Friday Neal had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.
"You can imagine he was certainly heartbroken," said Quinn of Neal. "... It was a tough Marshall Newhouse Jersey , emotional day."
Neal used his Twitter account to pass along a message of faith. "TRUST in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. He has a plan," Neal wrote.
The injury news added more shock to a Falcons locker room reeling from another close loss to the Eagles. After being stopped on the goal line in a playoff loss in Philadelphia last season, the Falcons again were denied on five plays in the red zone to end the game.
Then came Friday's news that Neal was lost for the season.
"You can't replace a guy like that," said cornerback Desmond Trufant. "We've just got to pray for him and pick up the slack."
Neal hurt his knee in the first half, returned in the second half and then left the game for good.
Quinn said he didn't think Neal aggravated the injury by returning to the game.
Reid, 26, knelt beside San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick on the sideline during national anthems in the 2016 season to protest social injustice. Reid continued his protest in 2017. He filed a collusion grievance against the NFL in May after he was not signed as a free agent last offseason.
The NFLPA has filed a grievance on Reid's behalf.
Reid started 69 of 70 games with 10 career interceptions and remained unsigned despite attracting interest from Cincinnati and Tennessee.
Neal was a 2016 first-round draft pick from Florida and one of the key building blocks on Quinn's defense. Neal had 113 tackles with one interception, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries while starting every game last season.
Neal also has set the pace for the defense with his physical style.
"His physical nature is one that he plays like a linebacker, but is fast enough to play in the middle part of the field and play outside," Quinn said. "We'll certainly miss him because of the physical nature he plays with."
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