Toronto Blue Jays' Devon Travis tags out Detroit Tigers' Andrew Romine at second base in the seventh inning of their American League MLB baseball game in Toronto on July 9, 2016.Fred Thornhill/The Canadian Press
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has seen better starts from Aaron Sanchez.
The right-hander struggled early on Saturday afternoon and was bounced after just five innings — it was just the third time in 18 starts this season Sanchez failed to get into the sixth inning
"It was a battle for him, faced one of the best lineups in all of baseball, that's never easy," Gibbons said of Sanchez, who was named to the AL all-star team following the game. "I thought he was a little bit off today, he was off primarily because of his breaking ball, but you know what? He held them in check.
"Pitching in the big leagues is not easy. I don't care how good you are, how talented you are. Some days it comes down to gutting it out and battling — that's what he did today."
Sanchez surrendered two earned runs on five hits before turning the game over to the bullpen.
Victor Martinez scored the eventual winning run on an eighth inning home run as the Detroit Tigers edged Toronto 3-2. Martinez took Jason Grilli's 1-2 fastball over the wall in right-centre field for his 17th homer of the season.
Devon Travis erased a 2-1 deficit in the seventh taking Bruce Rondon's 2-2 slider over the wall in left for his sixth home run of the season. However, the Blue Jays were unable to find the go-ahead run.
The loss snaps Toronto's (50-40) season-high seven game win streak while Detroit halted its skid at two games and won for just the second time in six contests.
Grilli (3-3) allowed one earned run on one hit in one inning of work in the loss. Rondon (3-1) surrendered one earned run in one inning of work for the win while Francisco Rodriguez pitched a clean ninth for his 24th save of the season.
Sanchez got into a jam in the second inning, loading the bases on a Justin Upton bloop single to right. Right-fielder Ezequiel Carrera helped limit the damage gunning down Martinez at home on a Steven Moya sac-fly.
Two batters later, with the bases loaded, Sanchez hit Andrew Romine with a pitch allowing Nick Castellanos to score the game's first run.
Sanchez felt the ball four call to Jarrod Saltalamacchia to load the bases was the turning point of his start.
"I think that changes the game, for sure," he said. "It's 15 extra less pitches, maybe two more innings on the other end of it, but in a big league game like that, you can't let something like that effect you. You've got to go out there and continue to make pitches.
"I had Romine right where I wanted him, and the fastball just got away from me, but definitely that changes the game I think for me in a lot of ways."
The Tigers (46-42) got to Sanchez again in the fourth when Saltalamacchia's single scored Upton doubling Detroit's lead.
The Blue Jays finally got on the board in the fifth. After Junior Lake singled and advanced to second on an error by Castellanos, Carrera delivered with an RBI triple to right field pulling Toronto to within one.
Matt Boyd, who was recalled from triple-A Toldeo on Friday night, made his first start since June 18. The left-hander struck out six over four innings while allowing one earned run on four hits.