Mariners Log: Another loss, another hurt pitcher as M’s fall to Jays in third straight

SPOT STARTER RYAN WEBER INJURED AFTER 3 2/3 INNINGS

What happened: Jose Bautista crushed a three-run home run in the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners 7-2 on Saturday at Rogers Centre.

Starter Ryan Weber, making his Mariners debut, gave up one run on three hits in 3 2/3 innings, but had to leave with what the team called a “tight shoulder” after throwing a changeup in the fourth inning. Weber is the ninth starting pitcher the M’s have used this season.

Bautista busted open a 2-2 game. Once down 5-2, the Mariners suffered a complete breakdown of basic fundamentals in the bottom of the eighth.

A throwing error to the wrong base led to a reliever forgetting about the runner on second for a steal of third. Then a left-handed pitcher hit a right-handed batter hitting .037. Then they allowed a double-steal of home with a catcher as the lead runner.

Six times the M’s had two on with less than two outs and came out with nothing. The team went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base.

Line Outs

• M’s had two on with one out in the first following singles by Ben Gamel and Nelson Cruz, but Jays starter Marcus Stroman rebounded to strike out Kyle Seager looking on an inside fastball and Danny Valencia whiffing at a slider off the corner.
• 2B Taylor Motter led off the second with a single and after Guillermo Heredia struck out, Motter stole second. Jarrod Dyson walked on four pitches, but Tuffy Gosewisch struck out on a ball in on his hands and Jean Segura flied to center.
• Jays broke through in the third. With two down, Kevin Pillar singled to center and stole second. Ezequiel Carrera bounced one past the diving Motter at second and Pillar raced around with the game’s first run.
• Weber was cruising with two down in the fourth. After a 1-1 changeup for a strike, though, he turned his back to home plate and clutched at his pitching arm, just above the elbow. Trainers rushed out and ushered him off the field without another throw. Weber gave up three hits and no walks over 3 2/3 innings.
• M’s got something going again in the fifth. Dyson led off with a single and stole second, then Gosewisch walked. But Segura tapped one back to the hill that turned into a 1-3 double play. Gamel then clubbed an RBI double to straight center to plate Dyson to tie it.
• Bottom of the order with a rally in the sixth. Valencia bounced a single into left field, moved up to second on Heredia’s two-out single and scored on Dyson’s bouncing single up the middle.
• The lead didn’t last long. Former M’s slugger Kendrys Morales crushed a one-out, 1-0 fastball to dead center to tie it at 2.
• One out, two on for Mariners in the seventh against reliever Jason Grilli as Segura and Cruz singled between a fly out from Gamel. Jays then played some matchup, calling upon lefty Aaron Loup to face Seager. The runners moved up on a wild pitch, but Seager waived wildly at a breaking ball 4 inches off the plate. Toronto then brought in righty Dominic Leone to face Valencia and he bounced out meekly to third to end the inning.
• Heredia made a great catch against the short fence in the left-field corner, reaching into the first row of the stands to come out with the first out in the bottom of the seventh.
• The big blow came in the seventh with Nick Vincent on the hill. With one out, Pillar singled on a line drive to center and Carrera’s hard hit ball to short bounced off the diving Segura’s glove. Bautista followed with a 420-foot three-run no-doubt-about-it homer to make it 5-2.
• Heredia led off the eighth with a single, but inexplicably was thrown out trying to steal three runs down. Not smart baseball. By a longshot.
• Mariners play quality suffered in eighth. Motter fell trying to get the lead runner, James Pazos allowed Ryan Goins to steal third, then the lefty hit right-handed hitting Luke Maile, who was hitting .037 (1 for 27). Lack of detail all around.
• After a sac fly by Pillar that brought home a run, the Jays pulled off a double steal with their catcher running from first that plated another run.
• The M’s once again put two on with no outs in the ninth. But Cruz bounced into a 4-6-3 double play and Seager flied to center to end it.

The Takeaway

Another game, another starting pitcher hurt. It’s just a shame since Weber was doing a good job keeping the Jays off-balance early. The M’s are paper thin already, now their emergency starters are going down too. Adding insult to injury, once they got down the M’s seemed to forget how to play fundamental baseball in the folly that was the bottom of the eighth.

Tweet of the Day

Players of the Game

Hero: Jarrod Dyson. 2 for 2, two walks, SB, RBI. Made a number of nice running catches in center as well.

Goat: Nick Vincent. Three runs on three hits in one inning. Tough outing for a guy that had been pretty strong so far.

Mariners Notes

Before the game, the Mariners designated reliever Jean Machi for assignment to make room for Weber on the 40-man roster. The M’s have seven days to trade, release or outright Machi to the minors if he clears waivers. …The team issued a medical update on RHP Hisashi Iwakuma. The diagnosis of right shoulder inflammation was confirmed by team doctors and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Next Game

Seattle Mariners (17-20) at Toronto Blue Jays (16-21) on Sunday at 10:07 a.m. at Rogers Centre. LHP Ariel Miranda (3-2, 5.20) vs. RHP Aaron Sanchez (0-1, 4.05)

What others are saying (and writing)

Not only did the Mariners lose again, their third consecutive loss after reaching the .500 mark, but they lost another starting pitcher as well. … Maybe they should have kept Taijuan Walker, huh? Nope, he’d probably be hurt. … There are some players playing a lot better than everyone expected. … No Robinson Cano. Again. … The Blue Jays are getting healthy at the M’s expense.