and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that sw

TORONTO -- Mark DeRosa is the first to admit he isnt exactly an intimidating batter. DeRosa, a 38-year-old bench player the Blue Jays added this season for depth, has been dealing with a sore neck and a slump at the plate in which he hadnt had a hit since June 18 against Colorado. So when an injury forced first baseman Adam Lind out of the roster, DeRosa found himself filling in Monday. Even more unexpected was his No. 4 spot in the batting order. But no one was more surprised than the Detroit Tigers when DeRosa launched a three-run homer, an exclamation point in Torontos 8-3 victory against the American League champions. "Ive always been a guy who likes to work the ball the other way and its been frustrating over the last couple weeks," said DeRosa. "You know, flying open, striking out and grounding out to short. Doing things that, I pride myself on being a quality at-bat. Definitely hitting fourth was not on the agenda coming into the season." DeRosa joked he told star Jose Bautista, who was hitting third in the lineup after slugger Edwin Encarnacion was pulled just before the game with left hamstring soreness, to take off his shin guard at the plate and expect to be walked. It ended up being no joke at all. The Tigers walked Bautista twice, and DeRosa made them pay in the fourth inning with his fifth homer of the season. "Obviously you cant replace Eddie, you cant replace the way Lind swung the bat. Im aware of that," said DeRosa. "But theres guys here that are capable of doing things they have to to help us win." DeRosa had plenty of help during a festive Canada Day game at Rogers Centre. Shortstop Jose Reyes, who made his first appearance at home since April before he was put on the disabled list with a severely sprained left ankle, hit his second home run in two games. Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (8-8), following up on his best outing of the season last week, was again solid against Detroits intimidating batting order. He allowed two earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts through seven innings. Two of those strikeouts were against reigning batting champion Miguel Cabrera, who is leading the majors with a .369 average. Dickey said his velocity is returning, and thats making the knuckleball much more effective than it was during a rough start to the season. "I think any pedestrian could see that (the pitch) is harder. That the velocitys come back," said Dickey. "Its been kind of a tough go getting it back. I threw a knuckleball 81 miles an hour today, I threw a lot of 80 miles an hour, I threw an 85 mile an hour fastball. All those velocities are tops for the year." Prince Fielder, who hit a solo homer off Dickey, said he could see why the other Tigers batters were having so much trouble. "It was knuckling. Its hard for catchers to catch it so imagine how hard it is to hit it," said Fielder. Dickey was relieved by Steve Delabar, who impressed by striking out the heart of Detroits offence in Torii Hunter, Cabrera and Fielder in the eighth inning. Aaron Loup finished the game for Toronto in the ninth to get the Blue Jays (41-41) back to .500. Omar Infante, who finished 4-for-4, went deep in the ninth for the slumping Tigers (43-38), who now have just one win in their last seven games and trail American League Central-leading Cleveland by a half-game. "Were in a little funk right now and weve just got to get ourselves out of it," said Detroit manager Jim Leyland. Youll got to roll with that punch and youve got to try and do something about it." Tigers rookie left-hander Jose Alvarez (1-2), making his fourth start of the season, lasted just three innings after giving up five runs, four earned, and walking three with four strikeouts. Reyes opened a four-run third inning with a solo shot into the left-field second deck to the roar of 45,766 fans at Torontos fifth sellout of the season. Rajai Davis then sent a double into the same direction. Davis, who is playing every day with Melky Cabrera on the 15-day disabled list, appeared to distract Alvarez from his duel with Bautista by attempting to steal third. Davis took third before the at-bat was over and Alvarez walked Bautista. Alvarez then walked Colby Rasmus to load the bases. J.P. Arencibia capitalized with a two-run double to bring home Davis and Bautista. Maicer Izturis then added an RBI sacrifice fly to put the Blue Jays up 5-0. Alvarez finished the inning before being replaced by reliever Luke Putkonen. Fielder put the Tigers on the scoreboard with a home run over the right-field wall in the fourth. Victor Martinez doubled on the next at-bat and was then scored on a ground-rule double by Infante to cut into Torontos lead by two. DeRosa gave the Blue Jays a six-run advantage in the bottom of the inning. Davis singled then stole his second base of the game. He was followed by Bautistas second walk of the game, and DeRosa scored all three with a homer to right off Putkonen for an 8-2 lead. The Blue Jays capitalized on a balk by Alvarez to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Alvarez stepped off the plate against second baseman Munenori Kawasaki, advancing Izturis and Josh Thole. Then Kawasaki -- the clear crowd favourite of the Blue Jays lineup -- hit an RBI single that brought home Izturis. The inning ended however when on the same play Thole was caught at the plate. The game was a party for the holiday crowd. Members and families of the Canadian Armed Forces held a massive flag during the pre-game ceremony while Canadian music acts such as Classified and Arcade Fire were blared over the speakers. The Blue Jays wore red jerseys and were joined on the field by the national junior baseball team for the anthems. "It was fun. What a fun day," said Dickey. "As an American it was neat to be a part of it. Its fun to be embraced by a community any time." Notes: Lind is day-to-day with back pain after being pulled from Torontos 5-4 loss in Boston on Sunday. ... Encarnacion, who is day-to-day, has also been playing with a sore wrist. Manager John Gibbons said Encarnacions wrist is hampering his ability to field but not swing the bat. He was replaced as designated hitter by Arencibia. ... Blue Jays right-hander Chien-Ming Wang (1-1, 5.24 earned-run average) faces Tigers RHP Doug Fister (6-5, 3.50 ERA) on Tuesday. ... IndyCar driver Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, Que., threw the first pitch. Black Friday Shoes Free Shipping . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. Black Friday Shoes China . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net. https://www.shoesblackfriday.com/ . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. Black Friday Shoes Sale . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. Wholesale Black Friday Shoes . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. Brett Morris is shaping as the man to reignite Canterbury in their NRL finals campaign after being shifted to fullback to replace Will Hopoate.Hopoate will sit out Sundays elimination final against Penrith because of his religious beliefs with Morris moved from the wing to cover the No.1 position.Since his return from a knee injurry in round 16, Morris has been the sides strike weapon and hell need to spark the attack from the back for the Dogs, who enter week one of the finals on the back of three straight losses.dddddddddddd ' ' '