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Blue Jays look to complete four-game sweep of Tigers

Aug 14, 2008 - 10:05 AM Toronto (62-59) at Detroit (58-62), 1:05 pm EDT

DETROIT (Ticker) -- Despite a recent surge, the Toronto Blue Jays are still a long way from the American League playoff picture. However, they're doing a good job of dimming the Detroit Tigers' chances.

The Blue Jays will look to complete a four-game sweep of the Tigers on Thursday at Comerica Park and win for the eighth time in 11 contests.

Mired in a miserable slump, Detroit has yet to ease the sting of a pedestrian first half, where it was 47-47 after being bombarded with talks of returning to the World Series during spring training.

Now, it stands 9 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox (67-52) in the AL Central. The Tigers' current stretch of dropping 10 of 13 games hasn't helped.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have crept within two games of the struggling New York Yankees (64-57) for third place in the AL East, but are eight games behind the Boston Red Sox (70-51) in the wild-card race.

They have shown some signs of promise, going 27-20 under manager Cito Gaston, who took over for John Gibbons after he was fired on June 20.

Jesse Litsch (8-7, 4.46 ERA) takes the mound for Toronto with hopes of snapping a personal three-game slide. In that span, he has surrendered 15 runs and 22 hits in 12 2/3 innings.

The 23-year-old righthander has given up three runs or more in five of his last nine outings.

Detroit will counter with Armando Galarraga (10-4, 3.23), who is riding a three-game winning streak and has held opponents to three runs or less in eight of his past 10 outings.

The Tigers have been outscored, 17-9, in the first three games of the set.