Blue Jays 8, Tigers 6: Brayan Villarreal melts down, bullpen blows 5-run lead

Down five runs in the fifth, the Toronto Blue Jays received a gift from the Detroit Tigers bullpen on Wednesday and took advantage by scoring seven runs to take a 8-6 come from behind victory. The game was delayed 2:29 by rain

Aaron Loup, the third of six Blue Jays pitchers, took credit for the win. Casey Janssen pitched the ninth to earn his second save.

Tigers reliever Brayan Villarreal was tagged with the loss. Villarreal faced only three men in the seventh, but walked all three and was ultimately charged with three runs.

Jays' catcher J.P. Arencibia had the big hit of the game, a bases clearing three RBI double. Melky Cabrera and Edwin Encarnacion each added a pair of hits for the victors.

Jhonny Peralta led the Tigers' offense with three hits, Miguel Cabrera, Austin Jackson and Omar Infante chipping in two each.

After looking for all the world like the game would be postponed, the game finally got underway at approximately 3:38 p.m. ET. The starting pitchers would be long gone, and Tigers' fans would be spitting mad, by the time the afternoon mercifully ended.

Once again, the Tigers scored in their half of the first inning to give Rick Porcello an early lead. Austin Jackson singled to center and advanced to third on Miguel Cabrera's left field hit. Prince Fielder bounced what looked to be a double-play ball to Jose Reyes at short. But the Reyes and second baseman Emilio Bonifacio took their time making the turn, Fielder hustled down the line to turn a 6-4-3 double play in to an RBI 6-4 fielder's choice.

Thanks to Fielder's sprinter-like speed (click to see it), Jackson's score put the Tigers up 1-0.

Bonifacio played a big part in the Tigers next rally as well.

Matt Tuiasosopo was safe at first on Bonifacio's fielding error. Breaking out of a mini-slump, Jhonny Peralta singled to left, Tuiasosopo to second. The Jays looked to have dodged a bullet when they actually turned a double play off the bat of Alex Avila. But Mark Buehrle couldn't close out the inning unscathed, with Omar Infante making it 2-0 on an RBI single.

The rain returned in earnest in the top of the third. It was also raining on Bonifacio's parade, as his horrific game continued in earnest. He nipped any sort of Jays' rally in the bud by hitting into a 6-3 double play.

After Porcello had educed numerous ground ball outs (eight, to be exact), Edwin Encarnacion snapped an 0-19 streak in the top of the fourth, becoming the first Jay to reach second base with a two-out double down the line in left. Adam Lind popped up to center to end the threat, Porcello still holding a 2-0 lead.

The Blue Jays got on the scoreboard in the fifth, thanks to a damn #TwinsHit.

Colby Rasmus singled off the right field wall, thanks to Hunter playing the ball perfectly. Unfortunately, Macier Izturis grounded out to Porcello, but Rasmus was running on the pitch, taking second base. Bonifacio finally caught a break on his #TwinsHit RBI double just inside the line in shallow left, with Rasmus scoring to make it a 2-1 game.

The Tigers increased their lead in the bottom of the inning, knocking Buehrle out of the game in the process.

Infante singled to left, advanced to second on a ground ball. Infante scored when the torrid Hunter followed with an RBI single.

The just as torrid Cabrera doubled to right. Tom Brookens, remembering Hunter being thrown out yesterday with Fielder on deck, held him at third.

Manager John Gibbons looked into his stratergery workbook, and started making moves. He had Fielder intentionally walked to load the bases, then pulled Buehrle for right-handed reliever Steve Delabar.

Unfortunately for the Jays, Delabar made Gibbon's stratergerizing moot, unable to find the plate with his pitches.

Victor Martinez took a base on balls, Hunter scored.

Andy Dirks batted for Tuiasosopo, drawing another walk to plate Cabrera.

The #TwinsHits then evened out, Perlata's bloop dropping between three Jays in short right center, Fielder scoring.

Delabar finally settled down, getting the final two outs of the innings. But the Tigers had hit around, sending 10 men to the plate, scoring four times on four hits and three walks, stretching their lead to 6-1.

Porcello ran out of gas in the sixth, the first three Jays reaching base, ending his day. Melky Cabrera singled to center. Jose Bautista singled to left, Encarnacion doubled home Cabrea to make it 6-2.

Leyland pulled Porcello, Darin Downs getting the call out the pen. Mark DeRosa pinch hit for Lind, and looped a double over the glove of a leaping Cabrera, Bautista and Encarnacion scoring. What was a laffer had become a tight 6-4 game.

After getting the first out of the seventh, Cabrera singled for the Jays. Downs was pulled for ever mercurial Villarreal. Which Villarreal would show up? We soon found out. The really bad one.

Villarreal walked the bases loaded (with a wild pitch thrown in for good measure), then walked in a run. After going to a 3-2 count, then walking, all three batters he faced, leaving the bases loaded, Villarreal was pulled to a chorus of boos.

Octavio Dotel was brought on to try and quell the Jays' uprising. Didn't happen.

J.P. Arencibia doubled into the left center field gap, clearing the bases and giving the Jays an 8-6 lead. Dotel finally got out of what had been a brutal, brutal inning for the bullpen. More so for Villarreal, though Dotel did his part as well.

The Jays were unable to increase their lead against Dotel, while the Tigers couldn't rally after the bullpen meltdown, managing only one base runner in the seventh and eighth.

Phil Coke polished off the Jays in order in the ninth, giving the Tigers one last shot at a rally.

Janssen stuck out Fielder and Martinez looking, both giving home plate ump Dana DeMuth the stink eye. Dirks' liner to third ended a long, cold, wet, miserable afternoon for the Tigers ... and today's goat, Brayan Villarreal.

With the loss, the Tigers fall back to 4-4 on the year. The Blue Jays snap a two-game losing streak and move to 3-5.