Mariners strand two in scoring position in ninth in loss to Blue Jays

SEATTLE – Bottom of the ninth, down by one, tying run at third, winning run at second, crowd on its feet, and Julio Rodriguez stepping to the plate.

What else could you ask for?

In a series teeming with drama, in a budding rivalry crossing two countries, Rodriguez had a chance to deliver the moment for the Mariners in their midseason push toward playoff relevance.

The Mariners’ 22-year-old star tried to keep it simple facing Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano.

“Just go get a good pitch drive,” Rodriguez explained later. “And he made really good pitches. I took some close pitches. But at the end of the day, he came out on top today.”

The six-pitch at-bat ended with Rodriguez swinging over the top of the slider in the dirt for the second out of the ninth. Romano then got Eugenio Suarez to fly out to the warning track in left field for the final out, preserving the Blue Jays’ 4-3 victory and preventing the Mariners from completing a much-needed series sweep.

“You’re hoping to get a little bit more magic there at the end,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Just didn’t happen today.”

Before a crowd of 42,430 at T-Mobile Park, many of those fans again wearing Toronto blue, the Blue Jays (55-45) held on to the third and final spot in the wild-card standings.

The Mariners (50-49), after a 5-5 homestand to open the season’s second half, sit 4.5 games back as they embark on a six-game road swing to Minnesota and Arizona, two more playoff contenders.

Here’s the good news for the Mariners, and here’s the spin Servais said he’s taking away from this weekend: The Mariners are playing better baseball.

Good enough?

That remains to be seen.

But it is better, and something from which they can build.

“That was a heck of a series,” Servais said. “Every game right down to the final pitch. Our guys really competed their tail off. …

“We’re playing really good baseball. The group is coming together, finding ways to create opportunities. And we have been coming through more times than not here recently, and that needs to continue.”

Rookie right-hander Bryan Woo was dominant early, retiring the first nine batters he faced in one of the majors’ best lineups. Using a heavy dose of fastballs – four-seamers and sinkers – he said he wanted to attack the Blue Jays, and he struck out five his first time through the lineup.

“I thought Bryan Woo was outstanding today,” Servais said. “He did exactly what we needed, to get deep in the ballgame with our bullpen short. Awesome job.”

Mike Ford gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead in the second inning when he turned on a 94-mph fastball that Alek Manoah left over the middle and sent it high and far out to right field, off the Hit It Here Cafe windows.

It was Ford’s 11th homer of the season, and fifth in 55 at-bats in July.

As much as the missed opportunity in the ninth inning hurt, it was really their inability to do more against Manoah that was the Mariners’ real undoing.

In the fourth inning, Woo plunked George Springer with the first pitch he threw, a fastball up and in that hit Springer’s left elbow guard.

After striking out Bo Bichette and Brandon Belt on 96-mph fastballs, Woo got ahead of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a wicked swing-and-miss slider.

But Woo left his next pitch, a 96-mph sinker, right over the middle of the plate that Guerrero drilled to right field – just over the wall for a two-run homer to tie the score at 2-2.

The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning, on two soft singles and a hit by pitch.

Woo escaped when he got Springer to hit a grounder back to the mound, where Woo started an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play. Woo spun around and pumped his fast, as animated as he’s been in a Mariners uniform.

The Blue Jays took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning on a Brandon Belt home run that narrowly cleared the wall in right field – after a leaping attempt from Teoscar Hernandez, who reached over the wall, only to have the ball deflected off the end of the his glove and out.

With two outs and two strikes, pinch hitter Dylan Moore tied it up for the Mariners at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth with a hard-hit single to right field off Toronto reliever Tim Mayza, scoring Cal Raleigh from second base.

The Blue Jays retook the lead in the seventh inning after Woo issued a four-pitch leadoff walk to Whit Merrifield.

Pinch hitter Santiago Espinal drove in the go-ahead run off Tayler Saucedo on a groundball into the hole that took a hop over the glove of a diving J.P. Crawford. Merrifield scored the go-ahead run ahead of the throw from Moore in left field.

Woo’s final line: six-plus inning pitched, four hits, four runs, seven strikeouts and one walk.

The Mariners had a chance to tie it in the bottom of the seventh after Julio Rodriguez singled off the leg of ex-Mariner reliever Erik Swanson.

Rodriguez, representing the tying run, then stole second with one out.

But Swanson struck out Eugenio Suarez swinging through a high fastball and then, in a matchup of two players traded for each other last November, Swanson threw a 3-2 splitter to get Hernandez to pop out to right field, stranding Rodriguez at second base.

In the ninth, Dylan Moore was hit on the shoulder by the first pitch throw by Romano, who took the loss in the Mariners’ come-from-behind victory on Friday night.

Kolten Wong followed with a walk and both runners moved into scoring position on J.P. Crawford’s sacrifice bunt.

Romano then struck out Rodriguez and got Suarez to fly out to Merrifield near the left-field corner.

“The homestand started off a little rough, but I love the way we’re playing right now,” Servais said. “Just the energy, the competitiveness that we have, knowing that we’re not going to quit. We’re in every game and you’re seeing that with the effort our guys are giving.”