Addison Barger hit three doubles, drove in two runs and made one of Toronto’s several sterling defensive plays as the Blue Jays defeated the host Seattle Mariners 6-3 on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.
Nathan Lukes homered for the Blue Jays, who won their second in a row following a four-game skid.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman (3-3) allowed three runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings, with no walks and three strikeouts. Jeff Hoffman struck out three in the ninth for his eighth save.
The Blue Jays scored twice in the first inning and three more times in the third off Luis Castillo (3-3) to take a 5-0 lead.
Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drew walks to open the first, and George Springer reached on an infield single to load the bases with one out.
Barger, who was born in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Wash., then lined a double to right-center to make it 2-0.
With two outs in the third, Barger doubled to center and scored on Ernie Clement’s single to right. Lukes went deep to right-center to extend the lead to 5-0.
The Mariners got a run back in the bottom of the inning, as Ben Williamson and J.P. Crawford singled with two outs and Jorge Polanco followed with an RBI hit. Julio Rodriguez then scorched a 111 mph liner down the third base line, but Barger made a leaping catch to end the inning.
Bichette, Toronto’s shortstop, made a pair of leaping catches to prevent hits, and center fielder Daulton Varsho robbed Williamson of a home run in the fifth at the wall in right-center.
The Mariners scored twice in the sixth to make it 5-3. With one out, Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena all singled, the latter bringing home Rodriguez from second and ending Gausman’s night. Reliever Brendon Little struck out pinch hitter Donovan Solano before Leody Taveras lined a run-scoring double to left.
Seattle threatened in the eighth against Yimi Garcia as Rodriguez led off with a single and Raleigh and Arozarena walked to load the bases with no outs. Pinch hitter Miles Mastrobuoni hit a liner that first baseman Guerrero knocked down before throwing to the plate for a forceout. Garcia then fanned Taveras and Dylan Moore to get out of the jam.
The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the ninth as they loaded the bases on a single by Tyler Heineman, a one-out walk to Bichette and a single by Guerrero. Varsho hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it 6-3.
Castillo gave up five runs on seven hits in five innings. The right-hander walked two and fanned three.
–Field Level Media
