Tigers play small ball in extra-innings win

Detroit Tigers

TORONTO — The Tigers needed eight innings and a dose of small ball to get a run off former teammate Robbie Ray. Harold Castro needed one pitch off the bench to give them their first lead of the night, and the only advantage they needed.

While Miguel Cabrera’s search for his 500th home run continues, so does Castro’s stretch of timely hits. His go-ahead pinch-hit single in a three-run 10th inning helped break open what had been a pitching duel and end Detroit’s four-game losing streak with a 4-1 win Friday night at Rogers Centre.

For seven innings, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 425-foot homer off Tyler Alexander was the lone run of the game. Ray not only held Cabrera homerless, he held the Tigers without an extra-base hit over his eight innings. The Tigers tied it by turning Zack Short’s leadoff single in the eighth into a dose of small ball, bunting him over to second before he stole third base. Robbie Grossman couldn’t get Short home with one out, but Ray’s ensuing wild pitch to Jonathan Schoop did.

The Tigers sent the game to extra innings with help from four double plays, three of them started by Short to end innings with runners in scoring position.

Willi Castro began the 10th inning on second base but seemed stuck there after Trevor Richards fanned Daz Cameron and Short. Harold Castro, hitting for Grayson Greiner, went at an offspeed pitch off the plate and flared it over shortstop Bo Bichette into left field for the go-ahead run. Schoop and Jeimer Candelario added RBI singles for insurance tallies.

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