DETROIT -- Gregory Soto needed no introduction to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Two years before the son of the Hall of Famer became one of the game’s next stars, he was in the Florida State League, where Soto faced him in four starts. But Soto never saw him do in that humid summer what he did on a similarly humid Saturday night at Comerica Park.

As Guerrero’s fifth-inning grand slam went screaming to the shrubs in left-center field, not far from the flagpole, it took what had been Detroit’s’ four-run lead with it, sending a crowd of Tigers and Blue Jays fans into a mix of awe and despair.

“It's like going into a vacuum door. It kinda sucks the wind out of you for a second,” said manager Ron Gardenhire, referencing the air-pressure doors the Metrodome had. “And then you realize we’re still playing baseball and it’s a tie ballgame and we have to go play. We had a pretty good feeling going on, and it happens.”

When Brandon Drury’s two-run homer an inning later put Toronto up for good in a 7-5 Detroit defeat, the Tigers were left wondering whether a 59-minute rain delay took all their momentum. They were also left wondering whether their crop of prospects down on the farm will generate the same impact and energy that Guerrero, Cavan Biggio and others have had quickly with the Jays.

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Tigers fans are eager to see it. With Saturday’s defeat, Detroit became the first Major League team to lose 33 games in a 40-game stretch since the 2012 Astros. No Tigers team had done it since the 109-loss team of 1996.

One night after Gardenhire criticized his team for a sloppy, dispirited series opener, the Tigers came out strong early. Niko Goodrum’s two-run homer in the second inning put Detroit in front off starter Trent Thornton and got the Tigers ahead for starter Daniel Norris against his old club.

Norris overcame a first-inning run to hold down Toronto’s offense from there. But as he worked through trouble in the fourth inning, he could see the storm clouds closing in on downtown, moving in from the northwest.

“I feel like I always work quick, but today especially when I felt the wind blowing the rain in,” Norris said. “The clouds were rolling pretty quickly.”

Gardenhire was counting on a deep outing from Norris to help rest a taxed bullpen. But between a delay just shy of an hour plus a case of strep throat Norris was battling, Gardenhire wasn’t going to bring Norris back out. John Hicks’ fifth-inning homer off Wilmer Font stretched the Tigers' cushion to four runs for Soto, who was called up from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day.

Soto struck out leadoff man Eric Sogard on three pitches, but Freddy Galvis’ third hit of the night and a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. double got him in trouble. A four-pitch walk to Randal Grichuk brought up Guerrero, who turned on a 96-mph sinker down and in like he had seen it before. The 441-foot drive carried to an area of the center-field shrubs that rarely sees baseballs, creating a fun task for whoever wanted to retrieve Guerrero’s first Major League grand slam.

“He’s a strong young man,” Gardenhire said. “He plays with a lot of enthusiasm, and he hit that ball a long way. They’ve got a good one there. I think they know that. I don’t have to tell them that. And we have to make a few better pitches on him.”

Drury’s go-ahead homer was more of a loft that carried over the bullpen fence, but it stung nonetheless. Though Soto has made most of his appearances in Detroit as a starter this season, Tigers officials believe Soto could have a promising future as a hard-throwing lefty reliever once they have enough starting prospects to move him to the bullpen.

Before the series began, Gardenhire noted the impact that the infusion of youth has had on the Blue Jays since their in-season callups, and thought ahead to what could await the Tigers later this season or sometime next year.

“We’re going to be in that mode here soon, where you’re going to see a bunch of kids like that, too,” the manager said. “This is kind of where they’re at, bringing all these kids up, and I’ve heard they’ve got some more coming. Good for them. That’s an entertaining part of baseball, and I’m sure their fans appreciate it.” 

The strength of the Tigers’ farm system is in pitching, not hitting. Whenever the wave of starting pitching prospects begins to arrive, likely with Beau Burrows and Kyle Funkhouser later this summer before top prospects Casey Mize and Matt Manning knock on the door next year, their challenge will be to stop hitters like Guerrero. Soto, also a rookie, tried.