Fulmer Impressive Again As Tigers Rout Blue Jays, 11-0
NOAH TRISTER
AP Baseball Writer
DETROIT (AP) — Michael Fulmer allowed two hits over six innings in another outstanding performance, and Justin Upton and James McCann homered to lift the Detroit Tigers to an 11-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
Fulmer (6-1) struck out five and walked three in his third straight start without allowing a run. Detroit has won four in a row.
Detroit acquired Fulmer last year in the trade that sent Yoenis Cespedes to the New York Mets. The rookie right-hander has won four straight starts, allowing only one run over that span.
J.A. Happ (6-3) allowed six runs and six hits in five innings. McCann's three-run homer opened the scoring in the second, and Upton added a two-run shot in the third.
The 23-year-old Fulmer has given a boost to Detroit's pitching staff while it has navigated Anibal Sanchez's struggles. The only hits off Fulmer on Monday seemed like they could have been prevented.
Darwin Barney's groundball single in the third slipped through after second baseman Ian Kinsler moved toward second as the pitch was delivered. The ball was hit to the area he was vacating.
In the fifth, Barney's soft roller toward the mound got past Fulmer for an infield single.
With the Tigers out to a huge lead, Detroit pulled Fulmer after 88 pitches.
It was a sloppy game for the Blue Jays from almost the very start. Center fielder Kevin Pillar stepped in on Nick Castellanos' deep line drive in the second, and he couldn't recover in time to prevent the ball from going over his head for a triple. McCann's homer later in the inning made it 3-0.
Kinsler added a single in the second and came around to score on a balk, a passed ball and a wild pitch. The Blue Jays threw three wild pitches in the game, and Pillar made an error in the sixth.
It was 6-0 after Upton's homer, and Detroit added three more runs in the sixth and two in the eighth.
Emergency personnel attended to a woman behind the first-base dugout after a line drive was hit to that area in the bottom of the seventh. She appeared to be OK, and the game continued. She later walked out while holding what looked like an ice pack on her head.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Blue Jays: Barney, playing while Troy Tulowitzki recovers from a right quadriceps injury, improved his batting average to .337. He's 12 for 28 since May 28, the day Tulowitzki went on the disabled list.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: Toronto sends RHP Aaron Sanchez (5-1) to the mound against the Tigers on Tuesday night.
Tigers: Detroit starts LHP Matt Boyd (0-1) against his previous organization. The Blue Jays traded Boyd to the Tigers last year in the deal that sent David Price to Toronto.
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