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Tigers-Blue Jays Preview

Aug 28, 2010 - 5:00 AM By JON PALMIERI STATS Editor

Detroit (64-64) at Toronto (66-61), 1:07 p.m. EDT

Jose Bautista's sudden development into one of the game's best home-run hitters has been the story of the Toronto Blue Jays' season.

It's the consistency of his power stroke that has made his year so remarkable.

Bautista looks to homer in three consecutive games for the third time this season Saturday afternoon when the Blue Jays face the visiting Detroit Tigers.

After homering in a series-opening loss, Bautista connected for his major league-leading 42nd home run Friday night in Toronto's 3-2, 11-inning victory. Adam Lind also went deep and Aaron Hill singled home the winning run as the Blue Jays (67-61) improved to 3-2 on a seven-game homestand.

"I'm not going to say it was a good swing, but I got the barrel underneath the ball and it ended up working out in our favor," Hill said.

Bautista's latest homer was his 22nd in 47 games, and it gave him 47 RBIs during that span. He has gone more than three games without a home run only once in that stretch, a four-game drought July 21-25.

The slugger has done the majority of his damage at home, where he's hit 27 homers. Bautista, who entered this season with a career-high 16 home runs for Pittsburgh in 2006, is batting .380 with 15 homers and 26 RBIs in his last 22 games at Rogers Centre.

He tied Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green for fourth place on the Blue Jays' single-season homer list. George Bell hit a franchise-record 47 home runs in 1987.

Toronto has won 30 of 47 at home and has homered 96 times in those games.

Miguel Cabrera hit his 32nd home run for Detroit (64-65), which stranded 16 and went 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position.

"We just had too many opportunities we let get away," manager Jim Leyland said.

The Tigers wasted another strong performance from a starting pitcher as Justin Verlander worked eight solid innings. Detroit starters are 6-0 with a 1.26 ERA in the past eight games, striking out 51 while walking nine.

Alfredo Figaro (0-1, 5.79 ERA) will try to continue that positive streak as he makes his first start of the season in place of Jeremy Bonderman, who was scratched with a sore muscle in his right side.

Figaro has made two appearances since he was recalled from the minors Aug. 20. He allowed one run and three hits over three innings against Kansas City on Wednesday.

The right-hander went 10-6 with a 4.14 in 23 starts at Triple-A, and pitched in five games for Detroit in 2009, making three starts.

Brandon Morrow (9-6, 4.39 ERA) takes the mound for Toronto looking to win his fifth straight decision. The right-hander is 4-0 with a 3.13 ERA in his past six starts, and most impressive in that span is his 54 strikeouts in 37 1-3 innings.

He rebounded from a sub-par outing with a very good performance against the Yankees on Monday. He allowed two runs and four hits over six innings while walking two and striking out 12 before leaving without a decision in a 3-2 victory.

Morrow has made nine appearances against the Tigers - all in relief - and has no record and a 1.80 ERA in those games.

Jhonny Peralta is 0 for 9 with three strikeouts against Morrow.