DETROIT -- John Gibbons was all smiles in the visiting managers office after his Toronto Blue Jays wrapped up yet another sweep of one of the American Leagues most successful teams. Allie Long Jersey . "Were feeling good right now," Gibbons said. "Were confident, and were playing good baseball. Were rolling." Juan Francisco and Brett Lawrie hit consecutive home runs in the sixth inning off Justin Verlander, and the Blue Jays completed their first series sweep of the Detroit Tigers since 2004 with a 7-3 victory Thursday. The AL East-leading Blue Jays have won 19 of 23, including sweeps of defending champion Boston, AL West-leading Oakland and AL Central-leading Detroit. "Its a great atmosphere -- weve got a lot of positivity in here," Lawrie said. "Everyone likes to have fun, and everybodys comfortable with one another." J.A. Happ (5-2) allowed three runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings for Toronto. Casey Janssen got the final out for his 10th save in 11 chances. He needed only one pitch to retire Nick Castellanos on a line drive to left with two on. Melky Cabrera also homered for the Blue Jays. Verlander (6-5) allowed six runs -- five earned -- and eight hits in seven innings. He walked four and struck out four. Toronto scored three runs each in the fourth and sixth. "My fastball was great today, but I just missed some off-speed pitches," Verlander said. "If I execute those four or five pitches, this would have been a fantastic game. I feel like Im turning the corner with the mechanical adjustments Ive made. I know the results dont reflect that, but I felt great out there." With the score tied at 3, Adam Lind drew a leadoff walk in the sixth. Francisco followed with a homer to right, and Lawries drive to left made it 6-3. "Against a guy like that, you cant really be on your heels," said Lawrie, who did not have an at-bat against Verlander before Thursday. "Youve got to be ready to go. Worked a couple good at-bats against him today, and ended up putting one in play, and it ended up being big for us." It was the 10th homer of the season for both Francisco and Lawrie. Toronto has hit a major league-leading 87. The Blue Jays won despite the absence of slugger Edwin Encarnacion, who missed the game with a back issue. The Tigers are still in first place, but they should no longer feel too comfortable after dropping 13 of their last 17. The last time Detroit endured a 4-13 stretch spanned the end of the 2010 season and the beginning of 2011, according to STATS. In 2011, of course, the Tigers began a streak of three straight division titles theyre now hoping to extend. Detroit scored twice in the third and once in the fifth, but the Blue Jays had an answer each time. Ian Kinsler opened the scoring for Detroit with an RBI triple and scored on Torii Hunters sacrifice fly. But Jose Bautista led off the fourth with a flyball that Hunter and centre fielder Austin Jackson each seemed to expect the other to catch. Hunter ended up trying to make the play at the last second, and the right fielder was charged with a two-base error. The Blue Jays eventually loaded the bases with one out, and Dioner Navarro hit an RBI single. Erik Kratz followed with a two-run single to put Toronto ahead. Kinsler tied it in the fifth with an RBI groundout, but Toronto took the lead back for good the following inning. Cabrera capped the scoring with a solo shot in the ninth, and he has 10 homers on the season as well. NOTES: Castellanos had three hits. ... Bautista extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a first-inning single. ... Detroit hosts the Red Sox on Friday night. The Tigers send LHP Drew Smyly (2-4) to the mound against Boston RHP Rubby De La Rosa (1-0). ... Toronto hosts St. Louis. Blue Jays RHP Marcus Stroman (2-0) takes on Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (6-3). Carla Overbeck Jersey . Nathan Beaulieu, Tomas Jurco, Danick Gauthier and Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist each as the Sea Dogs extended the longest streak in the Canadian Hockey League this season. Sydney Leroux Jersey . Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton and Kole Calhoun all homered to help the Los Angeles Angels get their first win of the season with an 11-1 rout of the Houston Astros. SHEFFIELD, England -- Italys Vincenzo Nibali displayed his riding smarts at the Tour de France, winning Stage 2 on Sunday and taking the yellow jersey after a well-choreographed attack on rivals in the postindustrial English city known for "The Full Monty." The Astana team leader nicknamed "The Shark" for his road savvy took the final lead in a cycling dance of sorts with other title hopefuls, who took turns in front in the last stretch through a sea of fans from York to Sheffield. Nibali perhaps had more at stake: The 29-year-old rider has won the Italian Giro and Spains Vuelta, but has never captured cyclings showcase event. The victory on Sunday gave him both his first Tour stage win and yellow jersey, and sent a message that he could contend to take it home from Paris in three weeks. With less than two kilometres left, Nibali escaped a 21-man breakaway bunch at the end of the 201-kilometre course over nine heath-covered hills of Yorkshire, and held off their late surge. England is hosting the first three Tour stages this year. GERMAN LOSES YELLOW JERSEY Marcel Kittel, a powerful German sprinter who often struggles on climbs, trailed nearly 20 minutes back and lost the yellow jersey that he had captured by winning Stage 1. While the Italian won the fight to the line, under the shadow of a black Sheffield Forgemasters tower, defending champion Chris Froome of Britain and two-time winner Alberto Contador of Spain are focusing more on the overall race -- which ends July 27 on Paris Champs-Elysees. Overall, Nibali leads 20 other riders by two seconds, including Froome in fifth place and Contador in eighth. A six-man breakaway bunch tried its chances early, but got swallowed up by the pack with less than 40 kilometres left. Then, the big race stars moved to the front, splitting the pack. Contador, Froome, and Americans Andrew Talansky and Tejay van Garderen all spent time at the front. At times, they mustered bursts of speed or zipped across with width of the road in tactical manoeuvrs. "In the finale, a lot of contenders were making moves: Nibali ended up taking two seconds on us," Froome said. "Its not a big margin. For me, it was about staying out of trouble to stay at the front, and avoiding any major issues or splits. "Im tired, but I hope everyones tired after a day like today." TIME TO WORK, ASTANA Dave Brailsford,, boss of Froomes Team Sky, said the leaders actually "were all hesitant, because nobody wanted the jersey. Rose Lavelle Jersey. " In the cycling playbook, the yellow shirt brings both glory and responsibility. Brailsford said: "Astana will have to now defend it, which is pretty good for anybody else. "Perfect. Theyve got to work." Nibali didnt dare claim he might keep it all the way to Paris, saying "the Tour de France doesnt stop here: We have three weeks to go, and very tough and tricky stages lie ahead." Mondays stage should be a far less grueling ride: Riders cover 155 kilometres from Cambridge to London, where the pack will finish on the Mall not far from Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. CROWDS FOR A CLASSIC STAGE The course Sunday resembled that of historic one-day races known as "classics," which often feature hilly terrain. Michael Rodgers, an Australian on Contadors Tinkoff-Saxo Bank team, called it "a bit of a special stage, like the Amstel Gold Race, but with 20 times the people." New roads for cyclings greatest race also mean new audiences, some of whom are so enthusiastic and eager for a selfie with the pack that they might not realize the hazards of getting too close to the riders as they go by. Untold thousands turned out just hours after one of the biggest British stars in the race, Mark Cavendish, dropped out because of pain from a separated right shoulder sustained in a crash Saturday. "There are thousands and thousands of people. Its great but its also dangerous," Contador said. Race officials say millions of fans have flooded the course route in just the first two stages. While Yorkshire doesnt have ascents on a par with the Alps or Pyrenees in France, riders faced nine low- to mid-grade climbs. The hardest was the Holme Moss pass. The steepest was also the shortest: The 800-meter Jenkin Road pass had an average gradient of 10.8 per cent. Several riders crashed. Simon Gerrans, who went down with Cavendish in Saturdays stage, also spilled -- as did van Garderen and Joachim Rodriguez, the third-place finisher in the 2013 Tour. All recovered to finish the stage. On the up-and-down, picturesque course, the 197-rider peloton scaled a narrow, cobblestone hill in Haworth, where the Bronte sisters -- the famed 19th-century novelists -- lived when their father was parson in the town. ' ' '