Matt Boyd’s last start at the Rogers Centre was a record-breaking one. Unfortunately for the 24-year-old rookie, none of the records was a good one. Boyd hopes his start on Friday night at the Rogers Centre doesn’t go anything like the last one did.

Friday will be the southpaw’s third start this season in Toronto, but his first as a member of the Detroit Tigers. Boyd - along with Daniel Norris and minor-league prospect Jairo Labourt - was traded on July 30 by the Blue Jays to the Tigers in exchange for ace David Price.

While Price has been everything as advertised for the Blue Jays, going 4-0 in five starts with an ERA of 1.99 and 41 strikeouts, it’s been a mixed bag Boyd in the Motor City and the lefty will look to avoid the mistakes he made on July 2.

To be polite, Boyd’s final start as a Blue Jay was a horror show. Boyd wasn’t able to record an out against the Boston Red Sox, allowing six hits, two home runs and seven earned runs before mercifully being lifted by John Gibbons. The Jays would go on to drop the game 12-6.

It wasn't just a bad start, but an historically bad one. It was the first time ever that an American League started allowed that many runs and that many hits without retiring a batter. It was also the most runs allowed without an out in Blue Jays history and the third-most in MLB history. He was demoted to Triple-A Buffalo immediately following the game.

“Baseball doesn’t define who I am,” Boyd said at the time. “It’s my living. It’s the game I play. I’ve got another day. I’m grateful for another day to go out there and bounce back. Count on me learning from this and being better from this. It won’t happen again."

In all fairness to the native of Bellevue, Washington, it was only his second-career start in the Major Leagues. Boyd’s debut came a week earlier when he went a respectable seven innings, surrendering nine hits and four runs and fanning seven in a 4-0 loss to the Texas Rangers.

This season is a learning experience for Boyd, who hadn’t pitched at a level higher than Double-A prior to this season. Boyd is 1-4 with a 7.04 ERA in his six combined starts this year with the Jays and Tigers. The 2013 sixth-round pick out of Oregon State is still getting his sea legs as a big league ballplayer, but has shown flashes of what’s made him such a prized prospect.

To wit, look no further than Boyd’s first start as a Tiger on August 5. Taking on the defending American League-champion Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park, Boyd went seven innings and allowed only one run for his first-ever MLB victory in a 2-1 win over Johnny Cueto.

Still, his struggles remain evident, especially early. In his next start following his first win, Boyd gave up hits to four of the first five batters he faced and surrendered three runs in the opening frame of a 4-0 loss to the Royals.

What has betrayed Boyd at times in his young MLB career is his fastball. When Boyd struggles with command on his favourite pitch, he gets into trouble. According to FanGraphs, Boyd utilizes his fastball just under 54 per cent of the time and batters are hitting .329 against it. Six of the eight home runs that Boyd has allowed this season have come from fastballs.

Boyd has found much greater success with his off-speed pitches. His slider – with a median velocity of 80 miles per hour – has befuddled opposing hitters, yielding only five hits and holding batters to a paltry .208 average. Both Tigers manager Brad Ausmus and catcher Alex Avila would like to see Boyd begin to use it more than the 18 per cent of the time he is now.

On Friday night, Boyd will certainly be mindful of his opposition, but revenge won’t be the aim of a player still trying to establish himself as an MLB hurler. What his start will be, though, is a good opportunity for Boyd to prove that he meant what he said after the debacle of July 2 and not let “it” happen again.