Randy Arozarena belts grand slam, Logan Gilbert shines as Mariners rout Blue Jays

SEATTLE – A player born and raised in Cuba, who represented Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, ignited a sold-out crowd at T-Mobile Park into raucous chants of “USA! USA! USA!” after smashing a grand slam against the only Major League Baseball team from Canada on the Fourth of July.

To quote many a MLB player and manager – “That’s baseball.”

Randy Arozarena’s second-inning grand slam off Toronto starter Shane Bieber gave the Mariners a sizable lead early and starter Logan Gilbert did the rest, tossing seven-plus scoreless innings to lead the Mariners to an 11-0 shutout of the Blue Jays.

After being held scoreless in the series opener, the Mariners scored 11 runs on 11 hits with Dom Canzone adding a two-run homer in the fifth and Cal Raleigh smashing a three-run blast off the upper-deck facing in right field in the sixth.

Any sort of fireworks metaphor would’ve been fitting.

“Great ballgame today,” manager Dan Wilson said. “What an offensive explosion today. Up and down the lineup of guys putting up really strong at-bats. I think nine of the 11 runs were with two outs today.”

It was a serious bounceback for an offense that was held scoreless in a 2-0 loss on Friday night.

“Really good to see us kind of a bust out after the last couple days,” Wilson said.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Arozarena drew the ire of fans and teammates when he decided to challenge a pair of inside pitches in his first plate appearance of the game. He was incorrect on both offerings from Dylan Cease and the Mariners, much to their detriment, played the next eight innings without being able to challenge borderline pitches.

Arozarena didn’t challenge a pitch on Saturday. He didn’t need to, going 3 for 4 with a walk. The only out he made came in the eighth against outfielder Myles Straw, who was brought in to pitch in the blowout. Arozarena grounded out to first on a 44-mph pitch.

Before the game, he was informed by manager Dan Wilson that he had been named to the American League All-Star team for the third time in his career.

“It’s kind of a recognition of all the hard work, all the discipline, everything you’ve put into it,” Arozarena said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “Just being able to be among the best, you feel satisfied. It lets me know I’m going in the right direction with everything that I’ve been doing.”

With two outs in the second, Cole Young doubled to right-center off Bieber and scored on Victor Robles’ single to left field. Colt Emerson followed with a single up the middle and J.P. Crawford, who successfully used the ABS challenge on a 2-1 strike call, worked a walk to load the bases for Arozarena.

The veteran right-handed hitter, who has been the Mariners’ most consistent offensive threat this season, has often said that his approach with the bases loaded is to hit a homer. It’s not staying up the middle or working line drives to right. It’s clear the bases in the loudest way possible. But he’s tried to refine that this season with a focus on being more versatile as a hitter.

“I used to just go out there and literally every pitch I saw, my mentality was hit this ball out of the ballpark,” Arozarena said. “Now I’m always going up there and just thinking, ‘where I can place this ball,’ and trying to use all my tools that I can to put that ball in play.”

He placed the ball in a location that allowed him to trot around the bases.

Arozarena chased a first-pitch slider out of the zone for an awkward swinging strike. Bieber came back with another slider. It was below the zone, but stayed over the middle of the plate. Arozarena was able to drive it over the wall in left field for his ninth homer of the season and a 5-0 lead.

“We’ve talked about Randy and how he’s used right field so much this year, and he’s used that middle of the field approach so well,” Wilson said. “That’s the pitch right there – breaking ball that’s kind of over the middle of the plate, That’s the one you can really hammer, and he was right there, ready for it and drove it out of the ballpark.”

He became the second player in Mariners history to hit a grand slam on the Fourth of July. Paul Sorrento hit a grand slam off Dennis Cook against the Rangers in 1996 at Globe Life Park.

Given an early lead, Gilbert dominated Blue Jays hitters. He retired the first 14 batters he faced before Yohendrick Pinanago dumped a soft single to left-center. It was the only baserunner Gilbert would allow. After receiving a nice ovation after the final out of the seventh inning, Wilson sent him back out for the eighth at 88 pitches. Gilbert got Ernie Clement to line out to third and was lifted, receiving a healthy standing ovation from the crowd of more than 40,000.

“I think he deserved quite an ovation today and he got it,” Wilson said of his reasoning. “It was a chance for him to go out there and get an out for us, and then face the crowd and let them show him their appreciation. Just a great moment for him.”