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TORONTO -- Mark DeRosa is the first to admit he isnt exactly an intimidating batter. Cheap Football Jerseys . 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. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . Rookie Marek Mazanec made 39 saves for his first NHL victory and the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-2 Saturday night. Cheap College Jerseys . Rudy Gay made the tying basket in regulation and a 3-pointer in overtime that gave Sacramento the lead for good, and Fredette scored a career-high 24 points to help the Kings beat the Knicks 106-101 on Wednesday night. https://www.cheapnfljerseysjustwholesale.com/cheap-nba-jerseys . -- Jake Paterson made 39 saves as the Saginaw Spirit halted the Guelph Storms seven-game win streak with a 6-3 victory on Sunday in Ontario Hockey League action.CALGARY - Josh Jooris and Sean Monahan each scored twice Thursday night to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in NHL pre-season action. Both goals for Jooris came in the third period. The first, at 4:03, put the Flames (5-3-0) ahead for good at 2-1. Mark Scheifele and Cliff Thorburn scored for Winnipeg (2-4-0). Most of the work on Jooris first goal came from Johnny Gaudreau, who spun away from a Jets defenceman along the boards, than drew the other defenceman towards him before slipping the puck to a wide open Jooris. Monahan made it 3-1 just 40 seconds later, and Jooris scored his second goal at 9:05, again on a nice set-up from another Calgary rookie, Sam Bennett. Gaudreau started the sequence with a nice chip along the boards, and Bennett, the 2014 fourth overall pick, found Jooris with a pass into the slot. Jooris has been a pleasant surprise at Flames camp. Undrafted, the right-winger left Union College after three years to sign with Calgary a year ago. He spent all of last year with the American Hockey Leagues Abbotsford Heat. Jooris, Bennett, Michael Ferland, Sven Baertschi and Gaudreau -- who had three assists -- are battling for what may end up being only one open forward joob, depending on injuries. Cheap NFL Jerseys. The Jets and Flames (5-3-0) will wrap up the pre-season on Saturday when they meet again at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. Monahan, who scored 22 goals last year as a rookie, will be counted on to provide even more offence this season given the off-season departure of free agent Mike Cammalleri, the only other Flame to reach the 20-goal mark in 2013-14. Monahans first goal of the night opened the scoring at 8:20 into the second period. He scored his second goal off a pass from Paul Byron from 40 feet out, ripping a slapshot into the top corner. Locked in a battle with Jonas Hiller for the Flames starting job in net, Karri Ramo had a quiet night in net. Ramo was tested only 18 times. Thorburns goal came on a 5-on-3 power play in the final minute of the game. Michael Hutchinson made 21 saves for Winnipeg. Notes: The Flames expect to have injured forwards Mikael Backlund (abdominal strain), Mason Raymond (lower body) and David Jones (lower body) back at practice on Friday... Calgary has 33 players still in camp (20 forwards, 10 defenceman, 3 goalies). The Jets still have 32 players in camp... Teams need to be down to a 23-man roster by 5 p.m. ET on Oct. 7. ' ' '