Detroit Tigers belt three home runs to down Toronto Blue Jays 10-7

LAKELAND, Fla. – Jake Rogers, Andy Ibanez and Akil Baddoo all belted homers to power a Detroit Tigers split squad past a Toronto Blue Jays split squad 10-7 in spring-training action Saturday.

Rogers, Ibanez and Baddoo helped stake Detroit to an 8-4 advantage in the top of the fourth inning. Toronto countered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull to within 8-7 before Detroit added two more in the six to make it 10-7.

Justin Turner homered for Toronto. George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. both had three hits.

Toronto outfielder Kevin Kiermaier left the contest with a right knee contusion after fouling a ball off his knee during his first at-bat. The 34-year-old has four homers and seven runs-batted in over 35 at-bats during spring training.

Later on Saturday night, a Toronto split squad dropped a 3-2 decision to a Baltimore Orioles split squad in Dunedin, Fla.

The Jays outhit the Orioles 9-7, but gave up a homer run in the sixth inning to Anthony Santander that snapped a 2-2 tie. The Orioles committed the game’s only error.

Toronto’s Andrew Bash took the loss on the mound as his spring training record slipped to 1-2.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2024.