Somehow, the Mariners are still kicking. Felix Hernandez takes the hill, and he’s 11-6 with a 3.79 ERA and 112 strikeouts this season. “We’ve got another game tomorrow, we need to get after it”. Not put pressure on us that we must win. They came back and tied it… His consistency and ability to work in any high leverage situation, makes him one of the most clutch closers in the game now.
Advertisement
That put Heredia on second.
The Jays’ Josh Donaldson was also tossed in the seventh inning by home plate umpire Chris Conroy for arguing a called third strike. His ball had some run and I just managed to get the head out and I connected. “As soon as I was at second base, I made up my mind that if he bunted the ball on the ground, regardless of where it was going, I was going to go to third base”.
Cano then sent a drive to deep left field for a game-winning sacrifice fly.
“The play (Freeman) made on Pillar, that’s the game, it was a hell of a play”, manager John Gibbons said. “When you do that, that’s what generally happens in extra-inning games”.
It’s more complicated than that.
So it’s still a steep uphill climb, but this was a step in the right direction.
ROCKIES 11, CARDINALS 1: Nolan Arenado hit a grand slam, German Marquez pitched five solid innings for his first major league win and Colorado slowed the Cardinals’ playoff chase with win at Denver. The Mariners are 4-0 in their last 4 during game 3 of a series and 7-2 in Hernandezs last 9 starts. “I don’t think it means a lot to anybody else”. I know the hitters. Catcher Jesus Sucre led off with a double and scored on a one-out single to centre by Nori Aoki. He did a great job. The Toronto Blue Jays offense has been cold recently, but they’ve won 10 of their last 13 games when scoring more than three runs. It was Diaz’s second blown save in 18 chances. That’s part of the game. “We couldn’t get them off it”. After a day off, the Mariners open a three-game series at Minnesota. “That was unbelievable”, Hernandez said. We talked early in the year that was something that I thought needed to get better.
PLAY (S) OF THE GAME: Two stood out and both came off the bat of Kevin Pillar.
The M’s had taken the lead in the third inning.
Even bigger, perhaps, was a diving catch by shortstop Mike Freeman in the 10th inning.
The win extended the Jays’ lead to two-and-a-half games over the idle Detroit Tigers and three games over the Mariners for the second wild-card berth in the American League. Devon Travis struck out.
“I think Russ and I will tell you that we’re probably more proud than others”, Saunders said. Leonys Martin stole two bases and pushed his club-leading total to 21. Vincent faced three batters without recording an out, allowing two runs off two hits and a walk in the 10-2 loss.
STAT PACK: Felix Hernandez recorded his 47th career start of seven or more scoreless innings.
There were a couple scary moments involving starting pitcher Taijaun Walker Monday night as he was hit on the arm with a 103-mph comebacker off the bat of Edwin Encarnacion and had his foot issues flare up during two fielding plays. “I’ve never seen anything like it”.
Advertisement
While Estrada was toying with the Mariners’ lineup, his teammates didn’t exactly break out of a prolonged, team-wide hitting slump, but did produce all their runs with two outs. Toronto designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion put a hurting on the Mariners’ staff. Encarnacion also hit home runs in the first two games of the series…the three-game series drew 107,977 fans (an average of 35,992 a game). Hernandez has been pounded in three of his last four outings while the Mariners are trying to avoid being swept by the Blue Jays.Hernandez has posted a horrific 7.65 ERA during his poor stretch, and a turnaround would be timely with Seattle attempting to stay within range in the American League wild-card race. If they lose both, they’ll be five games out with 10 to play.
