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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays blown out 10-1 by Tigers in bullpen day
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Photo credit: © Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Sep 15, 2026, 22:10 EDTUpdated: Sep 15, 2026, 22:08 EDT
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That’s it for the season, folks.
On Tuesday evening, the Toronto Blue Jays fell 10-1 to the Detroit Tigers, resulting in another series loss. Their pitching was bad, but none of that mattered when the offence was once again silenced. Let’s take a look at what went on in this one.
The Blue Jays’ bullpen game didn’t get off to a good start, as Braydon Fisher walked the first two batters. However, he got a double play and a strikeout to get out of the first unscathed. In their half of the first, the Blue Jays went three up, three down.
Fisher returned to the mound for the top of the second, getting a groundout to end his evening. In came Brendan Cellucci to make his big league debut. Facing Max Clark, the lefty got a swing and miss on a 94 mph fastball, then he struck out Spencer Torkelson on a 93 mph heater. The Blue Jays had another quiet half inning, but Cellucci returned for the third and went three up, three down.
That’s where the positives ended. The Blue Jays’ best chance to take a lead came in the bottom of the third, drawing three walks and striking out twice. Up stepped Alejandro Kirk with the bases loaded, but he promptly grounded out to end the threat.
Michael Lorenzen entered in the top of the fourth, retiring the first two batters before issuing back-to-back walks. Clark drove in a run with an RBI double, then Torkelson hit a three-run shot to put the Tigers up 4-0.
With a lethargic offence, the game was out of reach by that point, but Lorenzen gave up a fifth run. They scored a sixth in the top of the sixth, then two more runs in the top of the eighth. Alejandro Kirk, who has been the biggest reason why the Blue Jays even have a chance at the postseason, committed two errors in the top of the eighth. One of which was an errant back pick, which brought in both of the runs.
He made up with it by driving in the Blue Jays’ first run in the bottom half of the eighth. Unfortunately, there was no miraculous comeback, as the Tigers scored 2 in the top of the ninth off Joe Mantiply.

Takeaways…

The Blue Jays were oh so close to remaining one game behind the Guardians, but the team on Lake Erie managed to walk it off to win 7-6. With the loss, the Jays now sit two games behind the Guardians with 10 games to go. It’s not looking good. To make matters worse, the Rangers jumped over the Blue Jays thanks to playing one-fewer games and owning the tiebreaker over the Jays. 
At this point, all you can say is that they did it to themselves. After a tough stretch in August, the Jays played almost no teams with a .500 record, but have beaten themselves and let more than a handful of games and opportunities slip away. Even if they made the playoffs, would they have even done anything? This isn’t the same team as last year.
Tuesday’s game is a great example of how poorly this team has played all year. Yeah, the pitching was awful, but they had one shot to get a lead, and it resulted in a weak ground ball. Overall, they went 1-4 with runners in scoring position.
In total, they managed just five hits, all of which were singles. Brett Bateman had two of those hits, including one after seeing 10 pitches. The centre fielder has been a bright spot even when the Blue Jays have struggled, so that’s good at least.
Bateman has been nothing short of a terrific pickup ahead of the trade deadline, but the same cannot be said about Spencer Arrighetti. The right-handed pitcher threw two innings, allowing two unearned runs, but it took him 52 pitches to get the six outs. He just hasn’t been great in his six outings with the team.
Michael Lorenzen gave up five earned runs, bringing his ERA to 8.49 since joining the team. In the six games that he’s pitched, the Blue Jays are 2-4. There’s just no role for Lorenzen on a team that has playoff aspirations.
The lone positive for Blue Jays’ pitching in this game was Brendan Cellucci. Making his big league debut, the 28-year-old southpaw struck out three of the five batters he faced and kept the game scoreless at that point. Good outing, good story.
With their playoff odds diminishing, the Jays will try to salvage the series on Wednesday afternoon. Max Scherzer is slated to start against his former team, with the game starting at 3:07 PM ET.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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