TORONTO _ The Detroit Tigers will not go undefeated this season.
One night after winning on Opening Day in dramatic fashion, the Tigers' bats were silenced by Michigan native Matt Shoemaker in a 6-0 loss to the Blue Jays.
Shoemaker, a Trenton native and Eastern Michigan alum, threw seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits.
For the Tigers, Matthew Boyd racked up 10 strikeouts, but struggled in the bottom of the fourth inning, allowing hard contact on too many pitches over the plate en route to four runs. Three of those runs came on a two-out single by Freddy Galvis; on the play, center fielder Mikie Mahtook bobbled the ball, which allowed the third run to score.
For the second consecutive game, the Tigers had strikeout issues: In Thursday's season opener, they struck out 15 times; on this night, nine times.
Nicholas Castellanos recorded both of the team's hits, doubling and tripling, but squandered their best opportunity for a run in the sixth, trying to score from third base on a ground ball by Miguel Cabrera to third base.
Boyd was good _ outside of one bad inning: Boyd's night began by allowing a leadoff triple to Brandon Drury, but Boyd stranded him at third base with three consecutive swinging strikeouts. His breaking balls induced plenty of swings-and-misses, but the fourth inning _ which began with a leadoff walk _ proved to be too much. Boyd allowed four runs _ three earned _ over five innings and recorded his second career double-digit strikeout game.
The Tigers didn't have any at-bats of note, besides Castellanos' pair of hits. Other than Christin Stewart's home run on Friday night, they have not come up with timely hits. In this loss, they left nine men on base. The Tigers have yet to score before extra innings.
Reed Garrett, the Tigers' Rule 5 draft selection this offseason, made his major league debut in the eighth inning, pitching a scoreless inning with a strikeout. The strikeout came on a sharp slider to Kevin Pillar. The ball was kept to note Garrett's debut. The right-hander was impressive in spring training and has been considered a good selection by scouts.
