Seattle’s slump hits 8

TORONTO – The Seattle Mariners are paying a big price for not doing the little things.

Troy Glaus singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Mariners 2-1 on Saturday, sending Seattle to its season-high eighth straight loss.

“We need to hit better with runners on third base. We need to pitch better, make a pitch in certain situations,” Mariners manager John McLaren said. “This is why we’ve lost eight in a row. We haven’t been doing those things.”

The slumping Mariners have fallen out of the race in the American League West, and are quickly losing ground in a wild-card race they were leading earlier this week. Seattle fell two games behind the New York Yankees, who defeated Tampa Bay.

“The first thing you want to do is feel sorry for yourself, but you can’t do that,” M’s first baseman Ben Broussard said. “You’ve just got to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got a month of baseball left. We’ve been playing great baseball all year. We’re going to play good baseball.’ We’ve just got to believe in that.”

In an unusual gaffe, the Blue Jays cost themselves a chance to score in the second when Lyle Overbay and Aaron Hill batted out of order. Overbay flied out to start the second before Hill doubled to short left. McLaren came out with his lineup card, which showed Hill preceding Overbay. After the umpires huddled to discuss the situation, Hill was called out.

The last team to bat out of order was the Kansas City Royals on July 1, 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Dustin McGowan (9-8) won for the first time in five starts. He allowed one run and six hits in eight innings, with a walk and three strikeouts.

Toronto scored the decisive run in the eighth off reliever Sean Green (5-2). Alex Rios led off with a walk and went to second on a single by Frank Thomas. Glaus followed with a single that bounced off the mound and through the middle, scoring Rios.

“I made the pitches I wanted to throw, (but) it just didn’t work out,” Green said.