DETROIT — You keep waiting for a spark. Something, anything, to jolt the offense awake.

A sellout crowd of 40,528 brought plenty of energy to Comerica Park. As did ace Tarik Skubal, who was electrifying in his six innings. There were bold and clutch defensive plays, too.

And yet the bats continue to slumber.

And the Detroit Tigers continue to lose baseball games.

A two-run single by Bo Bichette off reliever Will Vest in the eighth inning broke a scoreless tie and sent the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-1 win Saturday, their third straight against the Tigers who have now dropped six in a row, 12 of 13 and seven in a row at home.

Davis Schneider and George Springer greeted Vest with first-pitch singles to start the eighth. They each moved up a base on a wild pitch and scored on Bichette’s opposite-field poke through a drawn-in infield.

Since the All-Star break, the Tigers are 1-11 and have been outscored 47-16. Their lead in the Central Division is down to 7.5 games, pending the outcome of the Cleveland-Kansas City game Saturday.

The margin of error has become microscopic. The Tigers managed two singles Saturday. Not a single runner got into scoring position until the ninth when Jake Rogers, who got both the Tigers' hits, advanced to third on a pair of defensive indifferences and scored on a groundout by Riley Greene.

For the first six innings, right-hander Kevin Gausman locked them down. He struck out 10, bedeviling hitters with four-seam fastballs and darting splitters. He got 13 whiffs at 18 swings with the splitter.

Jake Rogers caught every one of Skubal’s starts last season but hadn’t caught him this year since April 2.

“Jake was probably wondering if I was feeling OK,” manager AJ Hinch joked before the game.

Hinch might’ve just been trying to shake things up, looking maybe for some of that 2024 magic. But the move paid early dividends.

Rogers’ two singles were the only hits the Tigers got.

But more significantly, Rogers helped Skubal get out of serious trouble in the fourth and sixth innings.

With one out in the fourth, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., singled and went to third on a double by Bichette. Catcher Tyler Heineman, who was pinch-hitting for Alejandro Kirk, squared to bunt but didn’t offer.

Guerrero, anticipating the safety squeeze, came down the line and Rogers alertly fired a strike to Zach McKinstry at third, nabbing Guerrero. The throw was doubly impressive because Rogers had to throw it around the right-handed hitting Heineman.

Rogers came up big again in the sixth.

The Blue Jays again put together a string of long at-bats. The longest was a 13-pitch battle by Bichette that ended with the second walk of the inning and loaded the bases with one out.

Skubal needed 61 pitches to get through the first five innings. He would need 35 to secure three outs in the sixth. And he did so with a little help from his friends.

Heineman blooped a ball to shallow center field that Matt Vierling picked up on one hop. Springer, the runner at third, didn’t read the ball well and stayed to tag at third. Vierling came up throwing to the plate.

Rogers caught the ball in front of the plate and made a one-motion sweep tag on the leg of Springer, who did not slide on the play.

Skubal then finished his outing, striking out Addison Barger. His last two pitches were 100 mph heaters. And on the last (officially 100.6 mph) he let out his patented scream, which sent the park into a frenzy.

Skubal, who lowered his ERA to 2.09, struck out seven and walked three in his six scoreless innings.

The Blue Jays blew the game open against Chase Lee in the ninth with three home runs — a pinch-hit two-run homer by Nathan Lukes and solo homers by Springer (three hits) and Guerrero.

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