Last Night in Baseball: Blue Jays Dominate Tigers, Stand Alone Atop AL

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves.

That’s why we’re here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days’ games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:

Blue Jays stand alone atop AL

There were just five MLB games played on Thursday, so this edition of Last Night in Baseball is going to be a little heavy on the first matchup of the four-game Blue Jays–Tigers series. But with good reason: it was full of highlights in addition to its inherent weight as a bout between a team tied for the best record in the American League, and the club they passed to get there on Wednesday.

The Tigers struck first, with Jahmai Jones hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning — that lead would hold until the sixth. Then, it was the Blue Jays’ turn. Detroit’s starter Reese Olson had been cruising to that point, with three strikeouts and zero walks in five innings of shutout work — he didn’t allow a hit until the third, and through the first five gave up three harmless singles total. Reese fell apart in the sixth, however, allowing five runs and failing to escape the frame, and the seventh didn’t go much better, with Toronto adding another four runs against reliever Dietrich Enns. The Jays wouldn’t end up needing another two runs in the eighth, but they got them, anyway.

The Tigers fought back with three in the ninth after a shutout inning of relief by their backup catcher, Jake Rogers — the only reliever to avoid giving up a run in the game — but it wasn’t nearly enough. Toronto won, 11-4, and improved to 61-42 on the year, while the Tigers fell to 60-44. They’ve lost four in a row since becoming the first team to 60 wins, and are 1-9 in their last 10, as opposed to Toronto’s 15-4 July — the Jays are also 46-22 since May 9, and now have their largest lead in the AL East of the season.

Thanks to an Astros loss, Toronto also snapped a tie for the best record in the AL. It now belongs to them alone, and if they win this series against Detroit, then they can potentially extend both of those leads further. 

Knuckleball alert!

When Jake Rogers — who again, is the Tigers’ backup catcher — took the mound against the Blue Jays in the ninth because the game was already out of hand by then, we got a little bit of what used to make position players pitching so appealing, before rules had to be put into place to stop the incessant usage of them. Rogers, freed from any expectations of doing anything besides saving the bullpen an inning of work — and looking like he had borrowed Todd Jones’ entire mustachioed shtick — threw knuckleballs.

And they worked. They worked! Rogers retired his first two batters, then gave up a couple of singles before ending the threat. Baseball must have some room for a different kind of two-way player who isn’t elite, but is still useful, no? A backup catcher who is also a member of the team’s bullpen, but for real, because he can throw a knuckleball? 

Think about it, Jake, the people need the knuckler back in their lives, and you can provide that for them.

The best kind of home run

The Blue Jays also provided us with the superior form of the home run. Sure, an inside-the-park home run has a certain special quality to it, and no one will deny how exhilarating it is to watch a grand slam clear those bases in one swing. However: the best homer is the one that feels like it is a matter of personal pride. It’s the home run that follows an intentional walk.

Oh, you would prefer to face me, rather than this other batter? You feel I am less of a threat, that I present a more advantageous matchup? Eat dinger.

In this case, it was the Tigers intentionally walking Addison Barger with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on third base with two outs, and right-hander Reese Olson still on the mound. The lefty Barger is a far better hitter in his career against righties — a .776 OPS against just .559 vs. southpaws — while Ernie Clement is a lefty masher who slugs higher against left-handed pitching (.605) than his OPS against righties (.564). And yet! And yet:

A three-run homer of vengeance and spite that put the Jays up 4-1, and signaled the beginning of the end of Detroit’s chances in this game.

Mariners’ dinger dominance

The Mariners were all about the long ball on Thursday. For one, they traded for Diamondbacks’ first baseman Josh Naylor, who hit 31 homers in 2024 and has 11 so far in 2025. And second… and third and fourth… they scored four runs to defeat the Angels in Los Angeles, with all four of them coming by way of the homer. 

First up was Julio Rodriguez, who went yard in the top of the fifth to tie the score up, 1-1.

Then Randy Arozarena put the M’s up for good with a two-run shot later in the same inning, scoring Cal Raleigh — who, despite leading the majors in homers, was not one of the Mariners to go yard on Thursday.

That was Arozarena’s 19th home run of the season, four shy of his career high, and also his ninth of July. 

Last up was Jorge Polanco, whose insurance solo shot came in the top of the eighth to give the game its final score of 4-2. 

The Mariners, like the Jays, benefited from the Astros losing, as they moved to five games back of them in the AL West. They also gained half-a-game in the wild card standings for the second spot, as none of the teams chasing right behind them were active on Thursday.

Miller hits 103

When Mason Miller gets a strikeout because he threw 103 mph, you simply have to notice. Oh hey look at what the Athletics’ closer did on Thursday against the Astros.

Christian Walker’s reaction tells you all you need to know about what 103 mph looks like coming in, especially up-and-in like that pitch was. 

The average four-seam fastball from Miller is an MLB-best 101.1 mph, per Savant. He’s the only pitcher over 101, and the two others over 100 — Jhoan Duran and Seth Halvorsen — barely clear that mark, at 100.3 and 100.1, respectively. One-hundred and three miles per hour. That’s an arm.

Don’t run on Cortes

The A’s were able to show off in other ways on Thursday night. Specifically, Carlos Cortes was able to show off his own arm. In the bottom of the third, the right fielder scooped up a hard line drive from Taylor Trammell after it had bounced around in the corner, turned, and fired a rocket to second base that beat Trammell there.

Trammell laid on the ground for a while longer in disbelief — you can see the surprise in his body language as the ball goes by him and a tag is applied during the slide — and it’s not hard to see why. What a throw.

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