Tigers edge Blue Jays 7-6

Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer and Torii Hunter had four of Detroit’s 12 hits as the Tigers edged the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 at Rogers Centre on Tuesday night.

Hunter’s two-out infield single in the eighth inning scored Omar Infante from third base with the go-ahead run. Joaquin Benoit worked the ninth for his sixth save to end Toronto’s seven-game home winning streak.

The tie-breaking run came across when Hunter hit a comebacker that hit reliever Neil Wagner (1-3) and bounced to the left side of the infield. Shortstop Jose Reyes made a nice play to barehand the ball and throw it to first but it wasn’t in time to catch the speedy Hunter.

Toronto (41-42) fell below the .500 mark with the loss while Detroit (44-38) ended its three-game losing skid.

The teams combined for six runs apiece over the first two innings.

The Blue Jays attacked Detroit starter Doug Fister from the outset, with Reyes leading off with a single and moving to second when Rajai Davis was hit by a pitch.

Jose Bautista followed with a sharp single that scored Reyes. After advancing on a passed ball, both runners scored when Colby Rasmus sliced a ground-rule double that bounced out of play near the left-field foul pole.

Rasmus advanced to third when Maicer Izturis grounded out and scored when Josh Thole legged out an infield single. Fister capped the 38-pitch inning when Munenori Kawasaki grounded out.

The Tigers struck for six runs in the second inning off Toronto starter Chien-Ming Wang, with the bottom half of the order doing plenty of damage.

Jhonny Peralta and Andy Dirks singled before Infante hit an RBI double. No. 9 hitter Alex Avila cashed in two more runs with another double to make it a one-run game.

Hunter’s one-out single set the stage for Cabrera, who delivered a rainbow blast to right-centre field that gave Detroit a 6-4 lead. It was his 26th home run of the season.

It was the second straight five-out outing for Wang, who was making his fifth start of the year. He allowed eight hits, six earned runs, one walk and had one strikeout.

Right-hander Juan Perez came on in relief and walked Peralta before getting Dirks to fly out.

Toronto tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Bautista drew a two-out walk and scored when Rasmus hit a blast over the centre-field wall for his 15th homer of the year.

Cabrera displayed his defensive skills in the fourth inning by barehanding a Davis grounder and firing it to first base in time to get the quick left-fielder for the third out.

Davis showed his own defensive prowess in the sixth inning. With two runners on, Davis made a nice diving catch on a Prince Fielder line drive to keep the game tied.

Perez, Aaron Loup and Brett Cecil provided 5 1/3 innings of shutout relief before Wagner came on in the eighth.

Infante took the first pitch from Wagner into centre field for a single and moved to second on Avila’s sacrifice bunt. Infante advanced to third base when Jackson flew out to deep right-centre field.

Al Alburquerque (1-1) worked one inning of relief for the win. Fister allowed seven hits, six earned runs and one walk over six innings while striking out four.

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