Gibbons chalks up loss to Tigers as 'bad day'

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Manager John Gibbons wasn't in much of a talking mood following Tuesday's 18-4 loss to the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. He held court with reporters afterward, as he always does, but the truth is, there simply wasn't much to be said.

"All the way around, it was just a bad day in every phase of the game," Gibbons said. "I got to let that one go. ... This one's over. It was a bad day all the way around."

Toronto gave up 17 hits and 11 walks. The offense managed four runs on six hits, and half of those hits came off the bat of Melky Cabrera, who went 3-for-3 with a double and a stolen base -- perhaps the only real bright spot on the day.

Gibbons had hoped to see Ricky Romero and Marcus Stroman combine to pitch the entire game. As it turned out, they combined to record nine outs and allow 10 runs.

"Not enough strikes," Gibbons said when asked what went wrong for Romero.

And Stroman?

"Not enough strikes, either," Gibbons said. "It's pretty simple."

The young right-hander walked the first batter he faced and gave up three straight singles before Don Kelly took him deep for a grand slam. Stroman gave up another base hit, struck out a batter, then surrendered a ground-rule double before his day was finally over after 32 pitches, half of them strikes.

"A bad day. We had the nice off-day [on Monday] and today didn't go as planned," Gibbons said. "It just shows you that if you don't pitch, it's tough to play. The position players are out there standing on their feet. Every inning takes forever.

"Just a bad day."