Happ continues to be a very consistent presence on the mound every fifth day, with the Blue Jays increasing their chance of playing in a Wild Card game.
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Robinson Cano delivered a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning as the Seattle Mariners avoided a sweep with 2-1 victory over Toronto on Wednesday.
After a day off on Thursday, the Blue Jays open a series against the New York Yankees with Francisco Liriano (7-13, 5.08 ERA) scheduled to start.
Toronto tried for an out at third base on Ben Gamel’s bunt, and the throw by first baseman Ryan Goins beat Heredia – but Donaldson couldn’t hold the ball. Carrera added an RBI single two batters later and came around from first base to score on Devon Travis’s pop-up single near the right-field line.Encarnacion, who started the inning with a strikeout before nine consecutive batters reached base, added an RBI double in a frame that saw the Blue Jays pile up eight hits and a walk sandwiched between the first and second outs.Martin’s two-run homer tied the score 2-2 after Cano drove in two runs in the third with a odd, seeing-eye triple.With two outs and runners on second and third, Cano hit a sharp grounder to the left of Toronto second baseman Travis, who slid to make a play on the ball – only to have it bounce off his knee and fly all the way into the right-field corner.Six consecutive Toronto hitters recorded hits to chase Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma in the fourth.
“We scratched out a couple runs, get a big hit and finally get a lead, started getting some momentum our way”, Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “The more you’re in them, the more you usually get good at them”.
“I think Russ and I will tell you that we’re probably more proud than others”, Saunders said. “It was a big moment against one of the most electric pitchers in the game”. I need guys to swing at it and try to make contact.
“I thought it was a risky play, but I felt we had to do it, because it was important for us to win the ball game”, Heredia said through a translator. He gave way to Ryan Tepera, who imediatedly threw a wild pitch putting the runners on 2nd and 3rd and then walked Mike Zunino on 3 pitches, none of which were anywhere close to the plate, but then he got an easy ground ball to “first baseman” Goins. “I have a feeling we’ll get a few more hits”. But Kevin Pillars soft liner was caught by someone named Mike Freeman.
When he arrived at the ballpark, Hernandez turned to his locker mate, Franklin Gutierrez, and declared, “We’re going to win this game”.
Both starting pitchers were outstanding.
Happ (20-4) allowed two runs, six hits and a walk over five innings, striking out eight while winning for the 14th time in his last 15 decisions. He lasted just 3 2/3 innings in his last start, giving up six runs on five hits. King Felix had given up two hits while Sanchez had surrendered just four. “They plated the go-ahead run on a little gork hit with Aoki and then we came back with the big home run at the end there”. We are really, really good or we kind of have some ugly nights. Aaron Sanchez gets the nod, and he’s 13-2 with a 3.17 ERA and 140 strikeouts this season. The Mariners have allowed 16 runs in their last three games and three or less runs in 11 of their last 13 games.
Toronto erupted for eight runs in the fourth inning and J.A Happ became the majors’ second 20-game victor, lifting Toronto over Seattle 10-2. The one-run difference in Monday night’s game is also the difference in runs scored between the Mariners and Blue Jays on the season. The M’s, by comparison, follow this series with three games in Minnesota against the Twins and finish the season with four at home against the A’s. Seattle’s 710 runs scored thus far this season are already the most scored by any Mariners team since 2007.
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Toronto Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista (19) is congratulated by Troy Tulowitzki as Seattle Mariners catcher Jesus Sucre looks away after Bautista’s home run in the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, in Seattle. Estrada retired the next three Mariners but when he walked the leadoff man in the eighth, Gibbons went to the bullpen for Jason Grilli. The M’s will have to battle 19-game victor and former teammate J.A. Happ (19-4, 3.27 ERA). “He feels fine. There’s nothing there”, Servais said.
