Blue Jays fall victim to combined no-hitter by the Detroit Tigers

While a no-hitter is forever going to be one of the most exciting occurrences in Major League Baseball, it's always a lot more fun when your team is the one pulling it off. On Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays were unfortunately on the wrong end of one, as the Detroit Tigers used three pitchers to throw a combined no-hitter. This was the ninth in franchise history by the Tigers and their first ever combined effort.

Tigers throw combined no-hitter against Blue Jays

Through and through, this game was an absolute clinic by the Tigers. Matt Manning started the game, going 6.2 innings with five strikeouts and three walks on a total of 91 pitches. When Tigers manager AJ Hinch came to remove him from the ballgame in the seventh inning, he was showered with boos from the home crowd who could sense what they were in the middle of witnessing.

From there, relief pitchers Jason Foley (1.1 IP, 1 K) and Alex Lange (1 IP, 1 K) shut the Blue Jays down to finish out the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Cavan Biggio, who drew one of the walks off of Manning, was the only Jays player to reach scoring position, but that effort was for naught.

For the Blue Jays, they used their own trio of hurlers who performed well. With Kevin Gausman starting the contest, he went six innings of five-hit, two-run ball with a total of seven strikeouts. From there, Nate Pearson went 1.2 innings with two strikeouts and Yimi García recorded the last out of the eighth inning. Overall, it was a solid effort by the Jays pitching staff, but they simply did not have the offense to back them.

With today's loss, the Blue Jays are back to a tie for third place in the AL East with a 49-41 record. The Yankees, who won against the Cubs earlier today, are not going to give up the spot in the standings very easily.