TORONTO _ After two days and 24 innings, the long, local nightmare ended: The Detroit Tigers scored.
With two outs in the top of the seventh inning Sunday afternoon, Jordy Mercer watched a pitch sail inside, flipped his bat toward the Tigers dugout and trotted to first base. Yes, the Tigers had snapped their lengthy scoreless streak on a bases-loaded walk.
The next batter, Jeimer Candelario _ hitting in the leadoff spot after starting the season 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts at cleanup _ dumped a single into right field to score two more runs, but that three-run lead would be erased an inning later.
Relieving Matt Moore after seven shutout innings, Joe Jimenez allowed a three-run home run to pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez in the eighth, but three innings later, the Tigers retook the lead on a Nicholas Castellanos RBI single.
In the 4-3 win, Candelario recorded a career-high five hits, and despite getting no offense for nearly three games, the Tigers head to New York with a series split.
Moore was fantastic, throwing seven scoreless innings. His fastball velocity sat in the mid-90s throughout, and he did not allow a hit until the bottom of the sixth.
Moore struck out six batters and walked one.
Give credit to manager Ron Gardenhire for moving Candelario up in the order, allowing him to focus on putting the ball in play and getting on base. Candelario opened the game with a soft single to left, then singled in the sixth before his big hit an inning later. Candelario's two-run single was exactly the kind of timely hit the Tigers have been looking for to stop this slump.
The Tigers did a nice job of manufacturing those three runs in the seventh. Niko Goodrum led off the inning with a double to left field, before Christin Stewart moved him to third with a groundout to second. After John Hicks walked, Mikie Mahtook struck out looking and Grayson Greiner was hit by a pitch before Mercer walked. The productive out from Stewart loomed large.
Mercer saved the game by throwing out the winning run at home plate from his knees in the 10th inning. On the play _ a low line drive off the bat of Freddy Galvis _ the ball ricocheted off Mercer's glove on a diving attempt, rolling a few feet into shallow left field. The runner on second base, Richard Urena, did not stop at third, and Mercer threw a one-hop strike to home plate to get him.
