• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Thames comes through as Tigers rally past Blue Jays

Apr 14, 2007 - 10:45 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Lyle Overbay gave the Toronto Blue Jays a lead but B.J. Ryan threw it away with some help from Marcus Thames.

Thames sparked a ninth-inning rally and the Detroit Tigers rallied from an early deficit to post a 10-7 victory over the Blue Jays.

Overbay hit his first home run of the season in the eighth inning to give Toronto a 7-6 lead. Ryan came on to pitch the ninth but couldn't hold it.

"That's why you play nine innings," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "You don't win those very often, especially with B.J. Ryan. We were fortunate to win because that's not going to happen but three or four times a year. We snuck one today."

Ryan (0-2) allowed four runs and a hit in the ninth to take the loss. He walked three straight batters with one out and then couldn't put Thames away.

"I kind of let it get away from us by putting people on base," Ryan said. "I really let the team down today."

Down in the count 0-2, Thames muscled a broken-bat double down the line into left field, driving in two runs to give Detroit an 8-7 lead.

"I've played in three games and I've broken three bats. That was the biggest one right there," Thames said. "I knew B.J. was going to come right after me. He's one of the top relievers in the game, but he was just leaving the ball up a little bit. It hit my barrel just in the right spot and the ball fell in."

"When you walk batters, that's what allows you to get beat by broken-bat hits," Ryan said.

Craig Monroe drove in a run with a fielder's choice and Thames scored on an error by Royce Clayton to make it 10-7 and hand Ryan his second blown save in five chances.

"We were in a position to win but that just didn't happen," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "He (Ryan) walked some guys which is very rare, but he'll bounce back. We've been spoiled by him around here."

Relievers Jason Grilli, Aaron Ledezma and Todd Jones combined to allow only two hits over the final five innings for the Tigers.

"Grilli won the game for us in my opinion because he shut them down," Leyland said. "That's goes unnoticed. He won't get any credit, but Grilli won the game for us."

Grilli was happy to see some action after six days off.

"I was hungry to get in there," said Grilli, who entered the game with a 20.25 ERA. "We've got a lot of ammunition on this team. We're very deep in the bullpen and pitching staff and on our bench. Everbody had a part in today's victory that's for sure."

Todd Jones picked up his sixth save with a scoreless ninth.

"It was a good comeback win for us," Jones said. "I knew I had to shut them down and fortunately I was able to do it."

The Blue Jays led 4-0 after two innings, 6-4 after six and again after the homer by Overbay.

Detroit starter Chad Durbin lasted four innings, allowing six runs and eight hits while Toronto starter A.J. Burnett worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and seven hits.