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Justin Smoak isn’t a fan of extra innings Authentic Vita Vea Jersey , so he was doubly happy about his game-winning homer against the slumping Detroit Tigers.

Smoak led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Detroit 4-3 on Saturday, handing the Tigers their 11th straight loss.

”Honestly, nobody wants to play extra innings,” Smoak said. ”To be able to do it in the ninth and get it over with is always a good feeling.”

This is Detroit’s longest losing streak since an 11-game skid in August 2003, the year the Tigers lost 119 times. The Tigers last lost 12 straight in 1996.

Three of Detroit’s 11 defeats, including the past two, have been one-run losses. The Tigers are 13-13 in one-run decisions.

”There’s things we can do better but we’re not playing bad,” Tigers starter Matt Boyd said. ”It may seem dire, but it’s not. We’re close to where we want to be and we’re going to come out on the other end of this.”

Smoak connected against reliever Joe Jimenez (3-1) for his 11th homer of the season. It was the second walk-off drive of his career, with the other coming in 2016 against Texas.

Smoak, who hit a two-run homer in Friday’s 3-2 win, has gone deep in back-to-back games for the first time this season.

”I’m just trying to be aggressive and it’s been better as of late http://www.buccaneersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-vinny-curry-jersey ,” he said.

Seunghwan Oh (4-2) worked one inning for the win. Randal Grichuk also homered for the Blue Jays, who have won 10 of 11 at home.

John Hicks hit a solo homer in the Detroit second off Sam Gaviglio and Nick Castellanos made it 3-0 with a two-run shot in the third, his 12th.

Boyd held the Blue Jays hitless until Kevin Pillar’s leadoff double in the fifth. Pillar moved to third on a one-out single by Aledmys Diaz and scored on a groundout by Devon Travis before Grichuk hit his tying homer.

”He was leaving the ball up just a little too much where they could get the bat head to it,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Boyd allowed three runs and four hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out seven.

”I made a few mistakes today and one of them went over the fence,” Boyd said.

Gaviglio gave up three runs and four hits in seven innings, matching his longest outing of the season.

Leonys Martin and Castellanos hit consecutive singles off Joe Biagini in the eighth but the Blue Jays right-hander retired the next three batters in order.

”We had runners in position a couple of times,” Gardenhire said. ”We just didn’t come up with the big one.”

Martin helped preserve the 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth by throwing out Travis at home plate. Travis was trying to score from second on Yangervis Solarte’s single to center, but couldn’t beat Martin’s one-hop throw. The assist was Martin’s ninth, tying him with Seattle’s Mitch Haniger for the AL lead.

With a heat alert in place for Toronto, the retractable roof at Rogers Centre was kept closed. The outdoor temperature was 88 degrees, with high humidity making it feel like 106.

CAGED TIGERS

Detroit has lost 12 of 14 in Toronto.

CRIME DOESN’T PAY

Blue Jays C Luke Maile threw out two runners attempting to steal, both at second base. Maile threw out Jeimer Candelario in the first and Grayson Greiner in the seventh.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: RHP Alex Wilson had to leave in the eighth because of a sore left calf. Wilson missed almost a month earlier this season because of a strain in his left foot. … RHP Drew VerHagen (nasal fracture) will join Triple A Toledo Saturday night to begin an injury rehabilitation assignment. VerHagen has been out since June 20.

Blue Jays: Toronto put RHP Ryan Tepera (elbow) on the 10-day disabled list and recalled RHP Jake Petricka from Triple-A Buffalo.

UP NEXT

Tigers RHP Jordan Zimmermann (2-0 Customized San Francisco 49ers Jerseys , 4.35) faces Blue Jays LHP J.A. Happ (10-3, 3.62) on Canada Day in Toronto. Zimmermann allowed seven runs in his previous start against Toronto on June 8, 2016. Happ has won six straight decisions and is unbeaten in eight outings.

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Since the heady days of Steve Nash came to an end, there have been few signs of joy from a dwindling fan base that watched the Phoenix Suns tumble to the bottom of the NBA standings and miss the playoffs for the eighth year in a row.

Then came the announcement that Deandre Ayton would go to the Suns with the first overall pick. A huge cheer went up from the several thousand fans at Talking Stick Resort Arena on Thursday night for the draft party. General manager Ryan McDonough, owner Robert Sarver and coach Igor Kokoskov came out of their meeting room to watch and bask in that rare moment of sheer joy from the fans.

”It was a pretty special moment for our franchise,” McDonough said.

Not only that, but McDonough engineered a last-minute trade for swingman Mikal Bridges of Villanova, the 10th pick. It was a spendy move because Philadelphia demanded and got Miami’s unprotected 2021 first-round pick. But the Suns are weary of stockpiling assets. It’s time to cash in, they figured, and did it with that trade.

”We weighed the pros and cons of trading it heavily and carefully,” McDonough said. ”We were only going to put it in play if we had a chance to get a special player and that’s how we feel about McKell.”

All four of the Suns’ picks showed up on a crowded dais in Phoenix on Friday – Ayton, Bridges Cheap Billy Price Jersey , French point guard Elie Okobo (chosen 31st) and forward George King of Colorado (the 59th selection).

The 7-foot-1 Ayton towered over the others, in a white unbuttoned collared shirt and a sharp blue suit, but he looked and sounded a bit weary from the whirlwind of being the No. 1 draft pick. His only sleep lately, he said, was a couple of hours on the plane ride from New York on Tuesday.

”I’m just excited to finally get a jersey on and be able to play five-on-five again,” Ayton said.

Ayton had been the frontrunner for the No. 1 pick ever since the draft lottery and any doubts were erased when he went through an individual workout with the Suns, the only team which he did so.

McDonough said that Ayton’s workout ”in and of itself was as impressive as I’ve ever seen in my 16 drafts in the NBA.”

Ayton is seen as strictly a center, so how does he fit in the modern style of the NBA, when center plays is diminished and players are essentially interchangeable, is a question. Ayton replied that he’s no ordinary center.

”I don’t like it when people think I’m just a guy down low,” he said. ”They haven’t watched me shoot the basketball.”

Ayton and Bridges say they got to know each other well at the college awards ceremony in Los Angeles but never figured they’d be on the same team.

”It’s like I’ve known him my whole life,” Bridges said.

Now comes the hard work Luke Falk Jersey Titans , molding a team with Ayton, Devin Booker and Josh Jackson. A billboard of those three already has been erected downtown.

The Suns, so bad for so long, seem on the brink of being relevant.

”We’re very hungry,” Ayton said. ”I think the great team chemistry and the work ethic that we have, especially us guys coming in, we’re going to bring it to the next level. We’ve got young lets. We can run all day. … We can really start a winning legacy.”

And Ayton is the reason for the sudden leap in optimism, even though he won’t turn 20 until next month.

”I embrace it a lot,” he said of the expectations placed upon him. ”Through my career I’ve always had that on my shoulder, the expectations. I represent a whole nation (Bahamas) I just do that the best that I can and just help this community start over and be the best player I can possibly be. I just want to be the best great player.”

Kokoskov says Ayton possesses ”a unique talent for the decades.”

Ayton said he wants ”to be the best person on and off the court.”

Now the Suns move on to the next phase. Free agency starts July 1 and McDonough wants some veteran players to add to this very young core. He said the team should have $15 million to $20 million to spend.

”We were aggressive last night with the picks and the trade up to get Mikal,” McDonough said. ”We’re going to continue to be aggressive for the next couple of weeks in free agency. We’ve got some money to spend and we’re looking to spend it on the best players we can get.”

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