7/23/23

Blue Jays 4, Mariners 3

(Seattle, WA) While the MLB continues to try to force a rivalry between the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres, there is already a strong rivalry in the Pacific Northwest thanks to our friends in British Columbia. Those that made the drive from Canada to watch the Mariners battle the Toronto Blue Jays were not having as good of a time as the Mariner faithful that had enjoyed back-to-back comeback wins to win the series and gave the M’s a chance to end the homestand with a sweep on Sunday. While Seattle made things very uncomfortable late again for Toronto, the M’s fell just a bit short as they dropped the finale 4-3.

Bryan Woo came out of the gates absolutely dealing in his first appearance in this rivalry. The rookie struck out three of the first six batters he faced and then got some run support in the bottom of the 2nd. Against a pitcher that has really struggled this season in Alek Manoah, Seattle was very aggressive. A leadoff single for Cal Raleigh was followed by a Ty France strikeout for the first out. Mike Ford would then do a very bad thing to a fastball right down the middle. The big lefty crushed the heater 407-feet for his 11th long ball of the year. The two-run shot put Seattle on the board with a 2-0 lead.

Woo continued to roll into the top of the 4th, keeping the bases clear of any Blue Jays. That would end when he hit George Springer to leadoff the inning. Woo followed that up with strikeouts of Bo Bichette and Brandon Belt to raise his strikeout count to seven with two outs in the 4th. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. flexed his muscle and home run hitting talent with his 17th home run of the season. A two-run shot for Toronto evened things up at 2-2.

Both teams wasted score opportunities immediately after the game was tied. In the bottom of the 4th, Mike Ford and Taylor Trammell drew two out walks to put a couple runners on. Kolten Wong would try to bunt his way on but would be thrown out to end the inning. Toronto then loaded the bases in the top of the 5th with one out due to singles for Whit Merrifield and Kevin Kiermaier along with a hit by pitch to Danny Jansen. Facing the leadoff man in George Springer, Woo would get a chopper hit right back to him for a 1-2-3 double play to end the Blue Jay threat and keep the game even.

The power of Toronto’s lineup turned up once again in the top of the 6th. Brandon Belt added another home run to his strong series with a solo blast to right center for his eighth long ball of the season. The solo shot gave the Jays their first lead of the day at 3-2.

In the bottom of the 6th, Seattle found an answer. A one-out walk for Cal Raleigh and a single by Ty France put runners on first and second and ended the day for Alek Manoah. Tim Mayza came out of the Toronto bullpen and the lefty forced Scott Servais to make some changes to his lineup. Tom Murphy hit for Mike Ford but would go down on strikes for the second out. Dylan Moore then pinch hit for Taylor Trammell and Moore would stay hot. A grounder got through the right side of the infield for a big two-out single. Raleigh got a good jump and score from second to tie the game at 3-3. A groundout from Kolten Wong would end the inning but Seattle had evened things up.

Bryan Woo’s day would come to an end after walking Whit Merrifield to begin the top of the 7th. Woo struck out seven and only allowed four hits on the day, but it was up to the bullpen and offense to get the win. Daulton Varsho bunted to move Merrifield to second with one out. Alejandro Kirk drew a walk as he entered the game for an injured Danny Jansen to put another runner on and put the double play back in order. Santiago Espinal would hit for Kevin Kiermaier and hit a grounder on the left side. J.P. Crawford would make one heck of an effort and got his glove on the ball but it still snuck through into left field. Merrifield just beat out Dylan Moore’s throw to the plate to put Toronto back out in front at 4-3. Tayler Sauced would get Springer to hit into another double play to keep it a one run game.

Still trailing by one after a horrific defensive effort in the top of the 9th, the Mariners needed a run to send it to extras and two to walk off and earn the sweep. Dylan Moore reached as he was hit by the first pitch thrown by Jordan Romano. After Moore stole second, Kolten Wond joined him on base representing the winning run after a walk. J.P. Crawford almost placed a perfect bunt but it would end up going just foul. Crawford would get the bunt down to move Moore to third and Wong to second with only one out. Unfortunately, Julio Rodriguez continued to struggle mightily this season in clutch situations, chasing a slider in the dirt for strike three. Eugenio Suarez was the Mariners last chance and worked the count even at 2-2. Geno then hit a fairly deep fly ball into the left field corner, but Whit Merrifield would make the catch to end the ballgame and giving Toronto the 4-3 win.

After a bumpy ten-game homestand where the Seattle Mariners (50-49) went 5-5, they will now head on the road for six games starting on Monday when they visit the Minnesota Twins (53-48) in the first of a three-game series. These two teams just split a four-game series in Seattle this last week and we will see two pitching matchup rematches to begin this series. First, Luis Castillo (6-7, 3.04 ERA) will look to duplicate some things while improving some others from his last start against the Twins. Castillo went six innings and allowed six hits and three runs while walking two and striking out a season-high 11 batters in Wednesday’s game against Minnesota. He will again face Kenta Maeda (2-5, 5.10 ERA) who was solid in that game as well going 6 1/3 innings, allowing just two runs on three hits with no walks and he also struck out a season-high nine batters. Both pitchers got a no decision in that game. Since the last meeting between these two teams, the Mariners took two of three from Toronto while Minnesota swept a three-game series with the Chicago White Sox. First pitch is scheduled for 4:40pm

Matt’s Takeaways

This series gave us reasons to be optimistic. Teoscar Hernandez came up with some massive hits and Dylan Moore and Mike Ford worked out of a funk. Cal Raleigh also hit some bombs as well. The Mariners won a couple games in this series that were reminiscent of games they won the last couple of years. Unfortunately, they still went just 5-5 on the homestand. Yes, .500. That won’t get this team anywhere. They need to win series consistently. The Rangers are now beat up and the Astros aren’t the same team we have seen over the last 8 years. The division isn’t out of reach and the M’s are only 4.5 games out of the Wild Card. But they have to start passing teams which means winning series. Not splitting series. Not going .500. Not following a series win with a series loss or vise versa. They need to win. There is no reason that they can’t go 4-2 on this road trip. And they have to do just that with the Trade Deadline a week away.

Notable Performances

Blue Jays

• Vladimir Guerrero Jr.- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Brandon Belt- 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• Alek Manoah (ND)- 5.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO

Mariners

• Mike Ford- 1-1, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB
• Cal Raleigh- 1-3, 2 R, BB
• Bryan Woo (L, 1-3)- 6 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO

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