Blue Jays lose in extra innings to the Tigers on Opening Day

The Toronto Blue Jays lost to the Detroit Tigers 2-0 in extra innings on Opening Day this afternoon.

In a game that started with painfully quiet player introductions, today’s contest ended up being an intriguing pitcher’s duel between Marcus Stroman and Jordan Zimmerman.

Stroman, who was making his second career Opening Day start, and his first since 2016, was terrific. He started the game with a four pitch walk, and walked four on the afternoon, but aside from that he was great. All in all, the starter lasted seven innings, giving up only two hits and striking out seven, leaving Blue Jays fans with optimism for his 2019 season.

Jordan Zimmerman, who started for the Tigers, was equally terrific. Zimmerman had a no-hitter going until the bottom of the 7th inning when Teoscar Hernandez had a two out single to end the no-hit bid. The right hander pitched seven innings, gave up only the one hit, and didn’t walk a batter.

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Once Stroman was pulled from the game, Joe Biagini and Ken Giles came in and threw one shutout inning each. Biagini pitched the 8th inning, throwing his fastball and mixing in his curveball quite nicely, while Giles came in in the 9th inning and shut the door with three strikeouts.

Daniel Hudson, the recently acquired reliever, allowed the only two runs of the game on a two run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

As for the offence, it was non-existent. Teoscar Hernandez and Brandon Drury were the only players to collect a hit, and as a team only walked once. While there were definitely encouraging signs from Stroman the staff, the offence will look to get things going now that the first game is in the books.

Despite a disappointing Opening Day performance, this team does have a lot to look forward to this season. With so many talented young players already on the team and more set to join later this year, it’s unlikely this team gets shutout often this season, as they did today.