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Seattle Mariners

Mariners Log: Three Ex-Mariners hit homers and Jays take second game of series

Toronto Blue Jays’ Ezequiel Carrera reacts in the dugout after he hit a home run during the eighth inning of the team’s 4-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on June 10, 2017, in Seattle. (Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

JAYS LATE HOMERS PROVE DIFFERENCE

What happened: Solo home runs by Eziquiel Carrera and Justin Smoak in the eighth and ninth innings proved the difference and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners 4-2 in the second of a three-game series on Saturday at Safeco Field.

The Mariners had just tied it up in the seventh when Jarrod Dyson singled, stole second and on the overthrow and overrun in center, scored without a throw.

But Carrera squared up a sinker that didn’t sink from Tony Zych, then Smoak crushed a Steve Cishek fastball.

Starter Ariel Miranda wasn’t nearly as sharp as he was on Sunday in his complete-game shutout, but was still pretty good. He walked five over 6 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on two hits with just two strikeouts.

Miranda gave up a long home run to former M’s DH Kendrys Morales.

Jays starter Marcus Stroman went seven innings and allowed two runs – one earned – on six hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

Line Outs

  • The M’s opened the scoring in the second. Nelson Cruz led off with a single up the middle and went to second on a wild pitch. Kyle Seager bounced one into right field and Cruz chugged home, favoring his sore calf the whole way.
  • Miranda gave up back-to-back one-out walks in the third, but he got Kevin Pillar to fly out and Seager made a nifty forehand dive to rob Josh Donaldson of an RBI.
  • Trouble found Miranda in the third. After his third walk of the game, this time to Jose Bautista, Kendrys Morales crushed a meatball off the facing of the second deck in left for Morales’ 12th homer of the season.
  • Subtle, but important. With a runner at first in the sixth, Miranda gave Bautista a steady diet of fastballs, then held long enough that Bautista stepped out of the box. On the next pitch, Miranda snapped off a slider that Bautista lunged for and hit a soft, tailor-made double-play grounder.
  • SS Tyler Smith made a terrific play diving to his right into the hole at short, then throwing from his knees to get a force out at second in the seventh inning. Troy Tulowitzki barely beat out Cano’s relay throw to avoid a double play.
  • Miranda then walked Russell Martin – his fifth of the night – on a full count and manager Scott Servais came out with the hook and replaced him with Tony Zych. Zych immediately coaxed a double-play grounder to short from Darwin Barney to end the inning.
  • OF Jarrod Dyson led the seventh off with a line-drive single to center. He stole second and the throw went into short center. Dyson had third easily but Pillar overran it and Dyson scored the tying run without a throw. That’s what speed do.
  • Unfortunately for the M’s, Zych’s 1-2 sinker to Eziquiel Carrera leading off the eighth didn’t sink and Carrera crushed it to the right-field bleachers to regain the lead for Toronto.
  • OF Guillermo Heredia lead off the bottom half with a single to center off sidearm reliever Joe Smith. Cano then withstood a steady diet of up-and-away before getting one he could handle and smacking a line drive past a diving barney at second to put two on with no outs for Cruz.
  • Cruz grounded to third and Donaldson made a dive to his left to stop it. Donaldson got the lead runner and the turn barely nabbed Cruz for a double play. After review, they overturned the call and runners were at the corners with one down, with Boog Powell pinch-running for the gimpy Cruz. But Seager struck out and Taylor Motter bounced weakly to short to end a shot at a rally.
  • Justin Smoak made it a two-run game in the ninth with his 18th homer, a no-doubt-about-it off Steve Cishek.

The Takeaway

This one is tough to take. Dyson manufactured a run all by himself in the bottom of the seventh and it’s all undone with one bad pitch in the top of the eighth. Then, Smoak (of course) added the insurance run in the ninth. All three homers came from former Mariners property. The M’s are way past moral victories. At around .500, they have insinuated themselves back into a wild card chase and every loss stings.

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Mariners Notes

  • Mitch Haniger went 2 for 3 with a run and a walk in a rehab game for AAA-Tacoma. The team is expected to activate him for Sunday’s game.

Next Game

Toronto Blue Jays (30-32) vs. Seattle Mariners (31-32) on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. at Safeco Field. LHP J.A. Happ (0-4, 5.33) vs. LHP James Paxton (5-0, 1.69).

What others are saying (and writing)

Before we get to last night’s game, this is a pretty big week for the franchise. The amateur draft begins Monday and it will serve to set the foundation for the future of Jerry Dipoto’s M’s. … The home run ball got the M’s late. That’s how Scott Servais saw it. And he was right. … The Blue Jays’ fans in attendance, and there were a lot of them, enjoyed the win. But there is a question today. James Paxton is pitching for the M’s. He’s a Canadian, like most of the Jays fans in attendance. How do they deal with that? … Felix Hernandez is slowing down his rehab. That doesn’t seem good.