DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost, 5-0, against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday at TD Ballpark.

Detroit is 6-7 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Right-hander Jackson Jobe — who has all but officially locked up his spot as the fourth start in the Opening Day rotation — struck out four-time All-Star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. swinging with three fastballs in a row for the final out of his third start in spring training.

Catcher Jake Rogers worked behind the plate.

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After Saturday’s start, Jobe explained why he approached the Guerrero matchup with three consecutive fastballs.

“I’m done with trying to dot a gnat’s ass,” said Jobe, who was critical of his two-strike execution. “Just, here’s my stuff. If you hit it, good. Odds are, probably not.”

All three fastballs to Guerrero — who finished sixth in American League MVP voting last season — were located at the top of the strike zone: 98 mph for a foul, 98.3 mph for a swinging strike and 97.3 mph for a swinging strike.

“I threw him two heaters,” Jobe continued, “and he was late on both of them, so I threw another heater and got him.”

Jobe shared his evaluation of the result.

“Not bad,” he said.

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Starting off

Jobe completed 3⅔ scoreless innings.

The 22-year-old allowed one hit and two walks, with Guerrero as his lone strikeout victim. Despite that matchup, Jobe generated only four whiffs on 25 swings, resulting in a 16% whiff rate, below the MLB average of 25%.

He threw 31 of 50 pitches for strikes.

“I thought it was really good,” Jobe said. “If I had to nit-pick one thing, it’d be two-strike execution. But I’m not going to be mad about giving up one hit, if you want to call it that, to this lineup. I’m pretty stoked about it. I feel good.”

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Jobe walked the final two batters he faced: Anthony Santander on seven pitches and George Springer on four pitches, both in the fourth inning. He erased Nathan Lukes, who had a weak single, from the bases in the third when he used his sinker to induce an inning-ending double play.

This spring, Jobe has a 3.12 ERA with three walks and five strikeouts across 8⅔ innings in three starts.

“I’d like to think I got it pretty much all fine-tuned,” Jobe said. “Now it’s just learning the best way to use it, the best way to sequence it. I put my stuff up against anyone in the league on paper, to be completely honest. It’s just a matter of learning how to harness it.”

At the plate

The Tigers had four hits, zero walks and 11 strikeouts.

The four hits were from Justyn-Henry Malloy, Jace Jung, Andy Ibáñez and Justice Bigbie.

Ibáñez hit a double.

Right-hander Max Scherzer, a 17-year MLB veteran and former Tiger on his way to the Hall of Fame, started for the Blue Jays, firing 3⅓ scoreless innings with six strikeouts. He allowed one hit but didn’t issue any walks.

On the mound

In his third appearance, left-hander Brant Hurter allowed five runs (four earned runs) on six hits and two walks with one strikeout, throwing 27 of 48 pitches for strikes.

Hurter has struggled to command his pitches this spring.

Right-handed relievers Beau Brieske and Brenan Hanifee completed scoreless innings.

Three stars

1. Jobe; 2. Brieske; 3. Ibáñez.

Next up

Sunday (1:05 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Detroit) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates in Lakeland.

Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jackson Jobe whiffs Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in Detroit Tigers’ 5-0 loss