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LAKELAND, Fla. -- Ricky Romeros comeback bid hit another road bump Tuesday in an ugly 18-4 Jays loss to a Detroit Tigers split squad. The plan was for Romero and Marcus Stroman to combine for nine innings, with none of Torontos established bullpen members along for the ride. Instead the Tigers had their way with Romero, Jeremy Jeffress, Stroman and Marcus Walden. How bad was the Jays day? Romero had a dismal outing and he was long gone before the Tigers put up nine runs in the fifth inning for a 13-0 lead. The Jays issued 11 walks and were outhit 17-6 by Detroit in three hours and 28 minutes of spring training torment. Reading Detroits linescore was like dialling Moscow: 02119302. "Today all the way around it was just a bad day, every phase of the game," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "Ill let that one go. Ive got nothing to say. Tough for me to analyze. You were watching what I was watching." Several questions later, Gibbons did offer some analysis. "It just shows you if you dont pitch, its tough to play," he said. Romero gave up a two-run homer to Austin Jackson in the second after hitting a Tiger to put him on base and yielded another run in an unsightly third inning that featured a triple, four walks and two wild pitches. It could have been far worse, but two Tigers were caught stealing in the inning. The left-hander exited after 2 2/3 innings, giving way to Jeffress after yielding three runs on three hits with five walks, a hit batsman and two wild pitches. Unofficially Romero threw 57 pitches, 23 for strikes on a sunny 20-degree day with 8,328 on hand at scenic Joker Marchant Stadium. "Weve taken too many steps forward to dwell on this," Romero said philosophically afterwards. Romero and Jeffress walked eight between them in the first four innings. Asked afterwards if Romero would get another start, Gibbons opted not to answer. But he did note Romeros earlier improved outings. "Im encouraged. Ive seen it. So he can still build off that," he said. Likely in the minor leagues again, however. Things continued to fall apart when Stroman gave up a walk, four singles, a double and a grand slam homer to Don Kelly in a fifth inning that went from bad to worse. It took Stroman, a first-round pick in the 2012 draft, seven batters to record an out in the inning. Walden, a fellow minor-leaguer, took over and the onslaught continued as Ian Kinsler slammed a three-homer over the left-field fence. Jeffress walked three and struck out two while giving up an unearned run in 1 1/3 inning. Stroman got one out, at the expense of six hits and seven earned runs. Walden gave up five earned runs on six hits in 1 1/3 innings. While Romero suffered a meltdown on the mound, Toronto bats were quiet against Tigers starter Drew Smyly. Melky Cabrera, with a single and double, and Colby Rasmus (walk) were the only Jays to get on base in Smylys five innings. Toronto finally got on the board in the sixth inning with four runs against reliever Blaine Hardy. And the scoreboard kept ticking with Detroit adding three in the sixth and two in the eighth. Randy Boone and Justin Jackson also pitched for Toronto. Romero had seemed to be writing a story with a happier ending this spring. He came into Tuesdays game having given up one run in seven innings for an ERA of 1.29 in three appearances that saw him strike out six and walk five. "The big talk of camp right now is Ricky Romero," Gibbons said last Thursday. "It looks like hes on the way back, and thats what excites us all." Romero had limited the Tampa Bay Rays to one run in four innings in his last outing with two of those innings clinical 1-2-3 affairs. Tuesday was his first start of the spring and it went south after a first inning that saw him give up a leadoff single but get it back with a double play. Romero gave up three runs on three hits, walking five with no strikeouts. He had two wild pitches and hit a batsman. Three Tiger base-running errors limited the damage. Romero said he wasnt following through on his delivery, for some reason, and had trouble with his off-speed pitches. "Its a bad outing," he said. "Ive had three good outings. It happens as a pitcher ... My heads up. Its just a bad day." While saying he didnt want to make excuses, Romero somewhat strangely referred to a "weird weather day" in noting "the balls were a little slick and just kept coming out of my hand." Romero was an all-star in 2011 when he went 15-11 with a 2.92 earned-run average. In 2012, he slumped to 9-14 with a 5.77 ERA and things got worse in 2013, when he saw action in just four games in the majors with an 0-2 record and 11.05 ERA. The 29-year-old Los Angeles native spent most of last season in the minors where he went 5-8 with 5.52 ERA. A non-roster invitee this spring, Romero is due to make US$7.75 million both this season and next. Also Tuesday, left-hander Mark Buehrle and right-hander Brandon Morrow faced each other in an intra-squad game at the Jays minor-league complex. Morrow threw 3 2/3 innings with four hits, two runs (both earned), two walks and two strikeouts on 63 pitches. Buehrle went 4 1/3 innings with five hits, three runs (two earned), two walks and three strikeouts on 81 pitches. NOTES -- Tigers star Miguel Cabrera was part of the lineup playing the Mets .... Former Jay Rajai Davis was an injury scratch (hamstring) Tuesday. Josh Donaldson Jersey . You can watch all the action on TSN2 beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. Pineda won his second straight start last Wednesday against Chicago, as he held the Cubs to just four hits over six scoreless innings to run his record to 2-0, while lowering his ERA to 1. Justin Smoak Jersey . And fellow Leaf, Jake Gardiner, hiking in Whistler. http://www.officialbluejaysgearshop.com/Blue-Jays-Jose-Bautista-Kids-Jersey/ . -- Andy Dorman and Kelyn Rowe scored in the second half to lead the New England Revolution to a 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of their Eastern Conference semifinals series on Saturday night. Jack Morris Jersey . The Incheon-based tea, of the Korea Baseball Organization said the deal for the 35-year-old Scott included a $50,000 signing bonus. Scott reached the major leagues with Houston in 2005 and hit 23 homers or more for Baltimore each year from 2008-10. Roberto Alomar Jersey .J. -- Fabian Johnson scored his first international goal and Clint Dempsey doubled the lead after a defensive lapse as the United States beat Turkey 2-1 Sunday in the second of three World Cup warm-up matches for the Americans before they head to Brazil.SAN JOSE, Calif. - Even on a night when the play was hampered by choppy ice, the puck still seems to find Joe Pavelski and he keeps finding the net. Pavelski scored twice to move into a tie for the second most goals in the NHL this season and help the San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames 3-2 Monday night. "It feels how you should play the game all the time, to be honest," Pavelski said. "Its the way you picture it. Ive just visualized this a few times, so it shouldnt be anything new." Pavelski scored on a deflection in the first period and on the power play in the second to give him five goals in his past two games and 18 in the past 20 to tie Anaheims Corey Perry with 27 on the season. Washingtons Alex Ovechkin leads the league with 35. "Its fun to watch," teammate Tommy Wingels said. "They go in a whole different variety of ways as you saw tonight. When youre hot, youre hot. Hell certainly take it and as a team well take it as well." Wingels also scored and Antti Niemi made 21 saves for the Sharks, who returned home from a perfect three-game road trip with a win over struggling Calgary to open a pre-Olympic stretch of eight games out of 10 at home. Jiri Hudler and Kevin Westgarth scored for the Flames, who have lost four straight games and 11 of 13. Karri Ramo made 24 saves. "Were disappointed in the loss, but you cant fault the effort," forward Matt Stajan said. "We had our chances. If we continue to work like that well give ourselves a chance no doubt about it." Pavelski followed up his first career hat trick on Saturday in Tampa Bay with his third multi-goal game in his past six as he thrives on a line with Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. Pavelski is four goals shy of matching his career high of 31 set two seasons ago. He broke a tie late in the second period after Stajan was sent off for interfering with Eriah Hayes on the only penalty of the game. After a broken play at the blue line, Jason Demers kept the puck in the offensive zone and passed to Thornton, who was all alone on the opposite side of the ice. Thoornton fired a cross-ice pass to Pavelski, who was alone near the front of the net and deflected the pass past Ramo to give the Sharks a 3-2 lead.dddddddddddd "The ice was just so bouncy tonight I just tried to get it in the general direction," Thornton said. "He just made a great play, just hand-eye co-ordination. Hes just playing great right now. The puck seems to hit him right now and go in." Both teams scored twice during the first period with help from shaky goaltending from Niemi and Ramo. The four goals came on 18 shots and included three in a span of 1:12 midway through the period. The Flames started the scoring when Hudler beat Brad Stuart in the corner and then beat Niemi with a backhand from in front of the net for his 13th goal. The Sharks responded with two goals in a 21-second span with Pavelski tipping Justin Brauns point shot for the first and Wingels beating Ramo with a bad angle shot from near the boards to snap a 15-game goalless stretch. Less than a minute later, Niemi allowed a big rebound in the slot on a shot by Brian McGrattan and Westgarth got to the rebound ahead of Matt Irwin for his first goal in 23 games this season. Westgarth was happy to contribute two days after he was part of the game-opening line brawl against Vancouver that led to coach Bob Hartley getting fined $25,000 earlier in the day. "I dont know what is being said about me and I dont care," Westgarth said. "I know the guys in this room respect me and thats all that matters. I figured something would be happening. You dont want to have a line brawl like that very often." This game had just one minor penalty compared to the 204 combined minutes of penalties between the Canucks and Flames on Saturday. NOTES: With the assist on Pavelskis second goal, Thornton moved past Bobby Hull for 48th on the career scoring list with 1,171 points. ... Flames F Paul Byron left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury. ... Calgary F David Jones (eye) returned to the lineup after missing eight games and D Kris Russell (knee) was back after missing the past 13 games. ' ' '