Toronto Blue Jays' Daulton Varsho is greeted in the dugout after his two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers. The Jays won 9-1 on May 23, 2024, in Detroit.Carlos Osorio/The Associated Press
Kevin Gausman struck out a season-best 10 in six innings, Daulton Varsho hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh and the Toronto Blue Jays pulled away for a 9-1 victory over the skidding Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.
“I didn’t think I had the stuff to strike out 10 guys tonight, but I was able to command my pitches,” Gausman said. “We were 0-1 on just about every hitter, and when you do that, you become the aggressor.”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Isiah Kiner-Falefa also went deep as the Blue Jays (23-26) won for the fourth time in five games. Bo Bichette had three hits.
“Our at-bats have been getting better,” manager John Schneider said. “I think the approach is shifting and we’re doing a better job of grinding through to the third time through.”
Detroit (23-27) has lost five straight.
“This team is working hard,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Effort is a lot different than a win-loss record.”
Gausman (3-3) allowed one run and three hits as the teams played without replay review available for much of the game because of a power failure that disrupted both club broadcasts.
There were no calls that appeared likely to trigger a manager’s challenge before the replay system was restored in the seventh.
“Technology’s great until you don’t have it,” Schneider said. “It was a bit of an old-school game for about seven innings.”
Jack Flaherty (1-4) gave up three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out nine.
Kiner-Falefa gave the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead with his homer in the third. Toronto put runners on the corners with one out in the fourth, but Bichette was picked off first by Flaherty.
Kiner-Falefa tripled with two outs in the fifth, but Flaherty struck out Kevin Kiermaier to end the inning.
The Tigers didn’t get a hit until Javier Baez led off the sixth with a single. Carson Kelly followed with another base hit, but Gausman retired the next two batters.
With two outs, Wenceel Perez hit a tying single to right-centre, but Kiermaier threw out Kelly at the plate to keep it 1-all.
“I loved the plan we had coming into the game, but we still have to go out and execute it,” Hinch said. “That gets tougher and tougher when the struggles start piling on you.”
Daniel Vogelbach opened the seventh with a single off the wall in right-centre. One out later, Varsho put the Blue Jays up 3-1 with his team-high ninth homer.
“That really sucked,” Flaherty said. “Gausman was really good tonight, so when we get one across, the seventh has to be a shutdown inning. I’ve got to be better.”
Toronto tacked on three more runs in the eighth. With one out, Danny Jansen walked and went to third on Guerrero’s double. RBI singles by Bichette and Justin Turner made it 5-1, and George Springer followed with a sacrifice fly.
Jansen added an RBI double in the ninth and Guerrero followed with his fifth homer.
“I was impressed with how we added runs against their bullpen, which is something we’ve been talking about for a long time,” Schneider said. “It was nice to see the home runs and nice to see the doubles.”
Up next
The teams continue their four-game series Friday, with RHP Alek Manoah (1-1, 3.00 ERA) facing Detroit RHP Matt Manning (0-1, 4.88).