Major League Baseball

Tigers 2, Blue Jays 2

Published Mar. 29, 2010 10:37 p.m. ET

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Dana Eveland has done all he can to earn a spot in Toronto's rotation.

Eveland threw six scoreless inning and Detroit's Rick Porcello pitched 5 1-3 hitless before allowing two runs as the Tigers and Blue Jays played to a 2-2 tie in nine innings Monday.

Porcello did not allow a ball out of the infield before John McDonald singled to center field in the sixth. Jose Bautista then doubled to left and both runners scored on Aaron Hill's drive to left-center field.

Blue Jays reliever Jesse Carlson gave up Alex Avila's run-scoring single in the seventh inning and Miguel Cabrera hit an RBI double off Jeremy Accardo in the eighth.

Eveland, who opened camp with an outside shot to land a starting spot, had eight strikeouts and allowed four hits and a walk.

``He's certainly been in the mix all spring because he's done a great job for us,'' Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston. ``He certainly didn't hurt himself the way he pitched today.''

Eveland has a 1.23 earned-run average, 19 strikeouts and 21 hits and six walks allowed in a team-high 22 innings over six games.

He went 2-4 with a 7.16 ERA last season for Oakland.

Gaston said the Blue Jays' only definite starters are Shaun Marcum and Ricky Romero. If Eveland doesn't make it as a starter - he's in the mix with Brandon Morrow, Marc Rzepczynski, Brian Tallet and Brett Cecil - he'll likely have a long relief role waiting for him.

``He's pitched well enough to pitch on this squad,'' Gatson said. ``We just have to wait and see where were going to put him.''

Eveland uses five pitches, a sinker, straight fastball, changeup, curve and slider. He said he had everything going Monday.

``Ten percent of your starts you might have everything,'' he said. ``I threw five pitches for that reason, because I know I'm not going to have all of them. On a good day you generally have three.''

NOTES: Right-hander Brandon Morrow, Toronto's projected No. 3 starter, threw 52 pitches in a simulated game after being shut down for a week due to a ``dead arm.'' He allowed one hit, walked one and struck out four of 14 batters. ... Toronto 1B Lyle Overbay was pulled from the starting lineup as a precaution, saying he felt soreness in his left knee from a collision Friday with Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford.

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