By Canadian Press

Freddy Galvis’s aggressive base running helps Blue Jays down Tigers 6-0

Mar 29, 2019 | 6:45 PM

TORONTO — As Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Freddy Galvis rounded first he had his eyes locked on the glove of Detroit Tigers centre-fielder Mikie Mahtook. When Galvis saw the ball bounce out of Mahtook’s hand, he knew he had to push his hit to the limit.

Galvis rounded second and then slid into third to clear the bases and give the Blue Jays a four-run lead as Toronto beat Detroit 6-0 on Friday night. Turning that single into what was effectively a triple cashed in Justin Smoak, Teoscar Hernandez and Billy McKinney.

“I saw (third base coach Luis Rivera) send in the guys home, that’s when I decided to go to third base,” said Galvis, who finished the day with two hits, three RBIs, and a run. “I prefer making the fielders get me out and let the runs score.”

Rookie manager Charlie Montoyo was pleased that Rivera gave the green light to all four runners with two out.

“The third base coach deserves a lot of credit,” said Montoyo. “They never get credit, that was an outstanding send by Luis Rivera. That was very good.”

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It was Montoyo’s first win as a manager in Major League Baseball. Montoyo told reporters that he was freezing after his players dragged him into the bathroom to shower him with beer, shampoo and buckets of ice water after the victory.

“Oh man, it was great,” said starting pitcher Matt Shoemaker. “Charlie comes in, first big-league win, we threw him in the shower, gave him a nice cold shower. It was great.

“He needed a cold one. He got about 50, 60 cold ones all at the same time. It was awesome.”

Montoyo made his MLB managerial debut on Thursday after 22 years IN the Tampa Bay Rays organization. He earned a 1,266-1,142 record over 18 seasons as a manager in the minors.

“I can retire now, I’ve got a win at every level,” said Montoyo, through chattering teeth.

Hernandez had an RBI single earlier in the fourth for the Blue Jays (1-1), and Smoak had a two-run single of his own in the sixth.

Shoemaker (1-0) pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and striking out seven. Javy Guerra pitched two scoreless innings of relief to back Shoemaker’s solid performance.

Matthew Boyd (0-1) looked dominant for Detroit (1-1) in the first three innings, but gave up four runs — three earned — in the fourth.

He struck out 10 over five innings, reaching double digits in Ks for the second time in his career. Boyd had 11 on Sept. 8 against St. Louis.

Buck Farmer, Blaine Hardy and Reed Garrett all came out of the bullpen for the Tigers, with Hardy giving up two more runs.

Brandon Drury led off the first inning for the Blue Jays with a triple to deep left field. Boyd bore down and struck out the next three batters to end the inning, stranding Drury.

Hernandez got Toronto on the board in the fourth, stroking a single to score Randal Grichuk from second and advance Smoak to second. It ended a 13-inning scoreless drought to open the season, the longest in Blue Jays’ history.

Galvis added to that lead four batters later, smashing a base hit into centre field. Mahtook mishandled the ball, giving Galvis enough time to slide into third and clear the bases. Mahtook was charged with an error on the play.

“We made an adjustment after the first couple of innings,” said Montoyo. “Boyd was dealing, throwing his breaking ball for a strike.

“We made an adjustment, we started going up the middle, and that was big in the game. We got (Boyd) out of there.”

Smoak added a pair of runs to that lead in the seventh inning, finding a gap between third and short for an RBI single.

Notes: Announced attendance at Rogers Centre was 18,054. …The Blue Jays sent an autographed bat to fan Genevieve Cormier, who had been hit by an errant bat in the first game of their exhibition series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium.

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John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press