Shoemaker, Blue Jays blank Tigers 6-0, Montoyo gets 1st win
TORONTO (AP) — Matt Shoemaker pitched seven sharp innings to win his Toronto debut and the Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 6-0 Friday night, giving Charlie Montoyo his first victory as a major league manager.
Justin Smoak and Freddy Galvis each drove in two runs, a day after the Blue Jays were blanked in a 10-inning loss.
Shoemaker (1-0) allowed two hits, walked two and struck out seven. The right-hander signed a one-year deal with Toronto over the winter after spending his first six seasons with the Angels.
Combined with Marcus Stroman’s seven scoreless innings Thursday, Shoemaker gave the Blue Jays a team record for consecutive shutout innings by starting pitchers to open the season. Toronto’s previous best was eight innings, set by Jack Morris in 1992.
Javy Guerra finished with two perfect innings for Toronto.
Montoyo was Tampa Bay’s bench coach last year. He was hired to succeed John Gibbons as Toronto’s manager.
Matt Boyd (0-1) struck out 10 in five innings.
After establishing a team record for futility with a 13-inning scoreless drought to begin the season, the Blue Jays broke through with a four-run fourth. Teoscar Hernandez broke the skid with an RBI single, and Billy McKinney scored from first when center fielder Mikie Mahtook bobbled a bases-loaded single by Galvis.
Mahtook also failed to corral Brandon Drury’s leadoff triple in the first inning, although Boyd struck out the next three batters. Those were the first in a stretch that saw Boyd fan seven of nine.
Smoak made it 6-0 with a two-out, two-run single off Blaine Hardy in the seventh.
Detroit’s Nicholas Castellanos was left stranded after a one-out double in the fourth, then got caught in a rundown after reaching on a one-out triple in the sixth. Castellanos was the only Tigers player to get a hit.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: Minor league RHP Franklin Perez, one of Detroit’s top pitching prospects, is expected to miss four to six weeks because of tendinitis in his right shoulder. Perez missed much of 2018 because of shoulder and back injuries. He was acquired from Houston in 2017 as part of the package for Justin Verlander.
Blue Jays: Montoyo said Toronto’s starters will likely be limited to between 80 and 100 pitches per outing through the end of April.
UP NEXT
Tigers: RHP Spencer Turnbull was 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five spring training games, including two starts.
Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez has a 1.50 ERA in seven career games against Detroit, four of them starts.
