Toronto, ON – Max Scherzer just keeps on winning as he notched his 13th victory of the season to lead the Detroit Tigers in a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the third portion of a four-game series.
Scherzer (13-0) is now a win away from matching Roger Clemens' 14-0 start to the 1986 campaign as he gave up just two runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings.
"Its great to be 13-0," said Scherzer. "Tonight my team really picked me up."
Also, with eight strikeouts in the game, he extended another streak. Scherzer has notched at least six strikeouts in all 17 of his starts this season. It's the second-longest march in AL history as Pedro Martinez holds the record with a 29-game run in 2000.
Alex Avila hit a three-run home run while Victor Martinez went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, two RBI and two runs scored for the Tigers, who have won two straight after dropping six of seven.
Colby Rasmus and Maicer Izturis each drove in a run for the Blue Jays, who have lost seven of their last 10 games. Josh Johnson (1-3) was touched for six runs -- one earned -- on seven hits over five innings to take the loss.
"Against better pitchers, you fall behind like that, its an uphill battle," said Toronto manager John Gibbons.
In the second, Detroit went on top as Prince Fielder got the inning started with a single. Martinez then reached base on an Emilio Bonifacio error and Jhonny Peralta followed with a single to score Fielder. Three batters later, Avila lofted a pitch over the wall in left-center for a 4-0 lead.
Toronto threatened in the second as Mark DeRosa hit a two-out triple and J.P. Arencibia followed with a fly ball to deep center, but Austin Jackson made a leaping catch at the wall to keep the Blue Jays off the board.
Martinez singled home Torii Hunter in the third inning and he led off the fifth with his seventh home run of the season for a 6-0 lead.
Todd Redmond plunked Hunter with a pitch in the sixth inning, prompting both dugouts to empty and a visibly angry Hunter being held back while gesturing to Redmond, but it didn't escalate any further. A warning was issued to both teams, though.
Toronto finally got on the board in the sixth inning thanks to RBI singles from Rasmus and Izturis.
Scherzer got the first out of the seventh inning before Bonifacio singled. Bruce Rondon set the next two batters.
"I probably got better throughout the game," said Scherzer. "They hit the ball hard but at the same time I was able to keep them to singles."
Drew Smyly pitched around a one-out single in the eighth inning, while Joaquin Benoit gave up a two-out single in the ninth before getting Jose Reyes to fly out on the first pitch to end the game.
Game Notes
Scherzer has gone 18 starts, stretching back to last season, without a loss. That matches the club record held by Bobo Newsom, who set the mark in 1940 ... Scherzer is now 5-0 in eight road starts this season and moved to 4-0 over six starts against the Blue Jays in his career ... The Tigers have won 18 of the last 28 games against the Blue Jays ... Detroit second baseman Omar Infante left in the fourth inning with a right leg injury. The team later announced that x-rays were negative and the injury was a shin contusion. He will be re- evaluated on Thursday.
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