7/21/23

Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2

(Seattle, WA) Rivalry games and series are always so much fun. The atmosphere is like a playoff game in the middle of July. With the Seattle Mariners being so isolated from the rest of the league, a rivalry was born with the Toronto Blue Jays. Fans from British Columbia all flock south for the closest games to their province every season in Seattle. With the crowd electric from start to finish, the theme of game one was players getting revenge on their former team. While former Mariners Yusei Kikuchi and Erik Swanson both pitched very strong for Toronto, it would be former Blue Jay Teoscar Hernandez getting the last laugh by walking off his former team to give the Mariners the 3-2 win.

Starting pitching stole the show early in the game for both teams. Yusei Kikuchi was having his best start of the season for Toronto while Bryce Miller showed more of the same as he continued to work his way back from a blister issue. Miller is always going to give the Mariners a chance to win with his no fear approach. He went right after a difficult Blue Jays lineup and let his heater do the talking once again. While he did have some good battles which raised his pitch count, Miller was able to match Kikuchi early one in what was shaping up to be a pitchers duel.

Toronto would land the first blow in this one in the top of the 5th. With only one hit through the first four innings, Toronto was looking for a spark to get their lineup going. Danny Jansen provided a loud spark. Miller challenged the Toronto catcher with a first pitch fastball right down the middle and Jansen was ready for hit. He it a screamer below the scoreboard in left field for a solo shot and his 12th home run of the season. All of a sudden the M’s found themselves in a little hole, trailing 1-0.

Miller left the game in the top of the 6th due to Scott Servais wanting to ease him back in after missing some time. So the bullpen took over and in the top of the 7th they ran into issues. Dalton Varsho led off the inning with an infield single which could have been a double if it wasn’t for a tremendous stop by Eugenio Suarez at third. Varsho then stole his 12th bag of the season to move into scoring position. A grounder to Suarez would actually give Varsho an opportunity to move up and he did so, reaching third with only one out. Gabe Speier then got a massive strikeout of Santiago Espinal for an important second out in what turned out to be his final batter faced. The debuting Prelander Berroa came on looking for the final out but had some command issues against George Springer. A wild pitch allowed Varsho to score and doubled the Blue Jay lead to 2-0.

Seattle got something cooking right out of the gate in the bottom of the 7th. A walk for Ty France was followed by AJ Pollock’s fourth double of the season down the left field line. With runners on second and third with nobody out, it was a golden opportunity for Seattle to seize momentum. Former Mariner, Erik Swanson came in from the bullpen for Toronto to face the pinch hitter in Mike Ford. It wasn’t a stereotypical Mike Ford hit but it got the job done as a soft fly ball sat down in left field for a hit. France scored as runners were then on the corners with the score 2-1. Another key out was made at the plate as Jose Caballero hit a grounder to first baseman Brandon Belt who threw Pollock out at the plate for the first out. The bases would end up loaded with two outs after a Julio Rodriguez walk which brought Eugenio Suarez to the plate. Geno would go down swinging on a fastball at the top of the zone for the final out which killed that rally.

Berroa ran into more problems in the top of the 8th. Walks to Brandon Belt and Matt Chapman with one out ended his day as Tayler Saucedo came in from the pen. Saucedo didn’t fare any better against his first batter as he gave up a single to Whit Merrifield to load the bases. Toronto then made a surprising move as they pinch hit Alejandro Kirk for Dalton Varsho. Kirk is a much slower runner which gave Seattle a way better chance at the double play. And that is exactly what they got. A chopper to Suarez at third turned into a 5-4-3 double play which got Saucedo and the M’s out of a bases loaded jam with no damage done, as Seattle still trailed 2-1.

Yimi Garcia took over for Toronto in the bottom of the 8th. After getting Teoscar Hernandez to fly out, Tom Murphy put some pressure on Garcia with a base hit to center. It would then be a breakthrough at bat for Ty France. After struggling for most of July, France took a sinker on the inside corner and smashed it down the left field line into the corner. Murphy flew around the bases and would score without a throw on France’s 24th double of the season to tie the game up at 2-2. A big smile on the face of Ty France as the weight was lifted off his shoulders as we went to the 9th all tied up.

Paul Sewald mowed down the Blue Jays, only allowing a two out walk to George Springer while getting Bo Bichette swinging to give the M’s a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the 9th. Toronto closer Jordan Romano took over but made a big mistake in walking Jose Caballero to begin the inning. A rare sacrifice bunt followed as J.P. Crawford moved Caballero to second with one out. Toronto intentionally walked Julio Rodriguez to put the double play back in order with one out. Eugenio Suarez then gave a ball a ride deep into the right field corner, but George Springer would make a tough catch for the second out. Caballero and Julio both moved up as the M’s had runners on second and third with two outs. That brought up Teoscar Hernandez and Toronto decided they wanted to pitch to him. Against his former team, Teo was more than ready for the big moment. The first pitch he saw was crushed to deep right field and hit off the very top of the wall. The Mariners poured out of the dugout as Caballero trotted home on the walk off missile by Teoscar Hernandez as Seattle celebrated their game one win 3-2.

In what could be a season changing win, Seattle (49-48) has a tough task in trying to follow it up on Saturday at 1:10pm. It won’t be easy for Toronto (54-44) either in game two. The red hot Logan Gilbert (8-5, 3.65 ERA) will look to keep the good times rolling when he takes the ball in game two. Logan battled through a tough outing against Minnesota on Monday, but still only gave up two runs through five innings in the win. On the other side, Kevin Gausman (7-5, 3.03 ERA) will be the starter for the Jays. Gausman has only given up more than three runs in a game twice this season and struck out 13 Mariners back in Toronto earlier this season.

Notable Performances

Blue Jays

• Danny Jansen- 1-3, HR, RBI, R, BB
• Dalton Varsho- 1-3, R, SB
• Yusei Kikuchi (ND)- 5.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO

Mariners

• Teoscar Hernandez- 3-5, RBI
• Ty France- 2-3, 2B, RBI, R, BB
• Bryce Miller (ND)- 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO

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