Less than 24 hours after being held relatively quiet save for a few random moments of cheering and chants, and of course, the singing of “O Canada,” which is pretty cool to see, Blue Jays fans returned to T-Mobile Park in greater numbers and with greater intensity fueled by Saturday afternoon sunshine and, well, ice-cold refreshments.
Making up easily more than half — perhaps closer to two-thirds — of the announced crowd of 38,264, Toronto fans had plenty to cheer about as their team re-exposed all of the Mariners’ seasonlong warts and weaknesses for the first seven innings. In the final two innings, the Blue Jays also offered a reminder to their traveling faithful as to why they have a losing record this season.
In the end, a late and furious comeback by the Mariners that included a three-run homer from Mitch Haniger in the eighth inning and a solo homer from Luke Raley in the ninth inning fell short in a 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays.
“We still have a chance to win the series tomorrow,” manager Scott Servais said. “You’re looking to hopefully come out, and we just have to do more offensively, that’s just where it’s at early in the ballgames. I give our guys credit, they didn’t quit. We’re able to get some big hits there late to put pressure on them, but it’s going to take more than that.”
The Mariners essentially played the entire game without starting center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who was lifted from the game after the top of the first inning due to tightness in the lower part of his right quadriceps. He was expected to undergo an MRI after the game.
Rodriguez felt the quad tighten up while warming up before the game.
“He came in this morning and felt fine,” Servais said. “When he was out before the game and the guys were running sprints in the outfield, he felt something.
It tightened up and didn’t feel great.”
Instead of getting part of the game off and likely coming off the bench late in the game, Ty France was inserted into Rodriguez’s spot as the cleanup hitter and batted in the top of the second.
“You kind of have an idea going into the game how you’re going to use your bench,” Servais said. “When one of your main guys comes out like that, you’ve got to pivot quickly.”
Whether Rodriguez, who has looked much better at the plate the last few games, would’ve made a difference against Toronto starter Yariel Rodriguez is uncertain. But the Mariners offense did little against the Blue Jays right-hander.
They had just three base runners against him in six innings — a fifth-inning single from Raley and a pair of walks in the fourth inning.
Inserted into the rotation in place of Bryan Woo, who is on the injured list with a mild hamstring strain, Emerson Hancock gave the Mariners a serviceable if not lengthy outing. The rookie right-hander pitched into the fifth inning, but didn’t record an out before being lifted. His final line: four innings pitched, two runs allowed on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
He needed 62 pitches to hold the Blue Jays scoreless over the first three innings despite allowing a base runner in each of them.
The Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead with two outs in the fourth inning. Daulton Varsho singled up the middle and came around to score from first when Alejandro Kirk jumped on a 2-0 sinker, sending a line drive over the head of Dominic Canzone in left field. Hancock was able to limit the damage to just one run, striking out Kevin Kiermaier to end the inning.
“They drove the pitch count up and then I just remember getting through the fourth and kind of looking at how many pitches I was at,” Hancock said. “They kind of grinded through at-bats, but I didn’t do a good job of kind of putting them away when I got two strikes either.”
Down 1-0, the Mariners thought they might have answered in the bottom of the fourth. Josh Rojas and Cal Raleigh worked back-to-back, one-out walks for the Mariners’ first base runners of the game.
It appeared France had the Mariners’ first hit and a possible RBI when he hit a soft liner to left field. But Varsho, who also made a ridiculous catch in left field on Friday, made an even more difficult catch, diving forward and getting his glove just under the sinking ball before it hit the outfield grass.
Rojas wasn’t certain what to do. He started to break for third, hesitated and then was going to go again as he was looking at third-base umpire Mark Carlson to make a signal on the play. Carlson made a delayed out signal with Rojas well away from second base. Varsho scrambled to his feet and fired to the base to double him off and end the inning.
“He’s a really good defender,” Servais said. “He’s probably the best, well, him and (Stephen) Kwan, obviously, are the best left fielders in the game. It showed up for them in this series. Last night, he took a couple runs away from us and he took a run away from us here on that ball.”
Hancock started the fifth inning, but gave up an infield hit to George Springer on a swinging bunt and hit Spencer Horwitz with a pitch to end the Mariners starter’s outing.
Servais called on Collin Snider to work out of the situation with Vlad Guerrero Jr. coming to the plate.
Snider got up 0-2 immediately and tried to put the Blue Jays slugger away with sliders off the plate. Guerrero made an awkward lunging swing at a 1-2 slider that was almost in the other batter’s box. He got the barrel of the bat on the ball and it floated into center for an RBI single and a 2-0 Toronto lead.
The Mariners bullpen couldn’t keep the deficit to two runs. After Snider and Tayler Saucedo held the Blue Jays scoreless in the sixth, Trent Thornton allowed a run in the seventh, giving up a pair of hits to start the inning and then uncorking a wild pitch to put them into scoring position.
Toronto added two more runs in the eighth when Mike Baumann gave up a leadoff double and walked the next two batters to load the bases, creating all sorts of problems.
In the bottom of the eighth, Mitch Garver led off with a single for the Mariners’ second hit of the game and Canzone followed with a single to bring Haniger to the plate.
The veteran outfielder has played sparingly in recent weeks due to struggles at the plate. He worked a 3-1 count against right-hander Trevor Richards and then crushed a fastball into the Mariners’ bullpen for his eighth homer of the season.
Dylan Moore followed with a single to bring the tying run to the plate with no outs. Toronto manager John Schneider called on lefty Brendon Little.
He got J.P. Crawford to pop out in foul territory for the first out. With Rojas batting .115 vs. left-handed pitchers this season, Servais brought in switch-hitter Jorge Polanco to pinch hit instead of Ryan Bliss or Victor Robles — the last two players on the bench.
Polanco had been out of the lineup for the past two games due to struggles at the plate. He struck out as Little threw seven pitches in the at-bat, none of them in the strike zone. The Jays brought in closer Chad Green and he struck out Raleigh for the final out of the inning.
Asked about going with Polanco, Servais replied: “Polo’s struggles have come from the left side. I think his right-handed swing has been good. He hasn’t had a ton of right-handed at-bats, but in that spot, giving him an opportunity there because we like the matchup and he’s got a ton of experience. He didn’t get great pitches to hit. But it happens, he’s gonna stay aggressive and try to make something happen there.”
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