The Toronto Blue Jays aim to complete a three-game sweep of the visiting Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon.
Toronto followed up an 8-1 rout in the series opener on Friday by taking advantage of walks allowed by Seattle’s bullpen to win Saturday’s contest.
Seattle reliever Eduard Bazardo also was caught snoozing in the fifth. Bazardo’s second walk was issued to George Springer with the bases loaded to force in a run. Ball four to Springer, however, was a wild pitch and Bazardo was unaware that Brett Bateman was sprinting from second base. As catcher Cal Raleigh chased down the ball, Bateman crossed the plate to cut Seattle’s lead to 3-2.
Toronto took the lead with two runs in the sixth inning when Jose Ferrer allowed two walks and two singles.
Bazardo’s gaffe, however, was symbolic of the Mariners’ sloppy play that now has them four games out of first in the American League West and four games out of the third wild-card spot.
“I thought Cal made a nice play to make a good throw,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “Bazardo had his back to the runner and didn’t realize that he was coming down the line. As loud as you can yell, you’re not going to be able to hear that with the crowd.”
“It’s not really about communicating,” said Raleigh, who homered in the second inning. “It’s just being prepared and knowing that there’s maybe a play at the plate. I know it’s a weird play, but you’ve still got to be ready for anything.”
Bateman said: “There’s two outs and just trying to be aggressive and it worked out. Live and die by being aggressive on base paths. It went our way this time. That’s what we’re trying to do, trying to make things happen.”
The Mariners also allowed the plodding Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk to steal second in the sixth after he delivered the go-ahead single.
The Blue Jays moved to within 1 1/2 games of the AL third wild-card berth on a day that the team honored its former catcher, manager and broadcaster Buck Martinez.
“The ceremony before the game with Buck I thought was just outstanding,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “We were kind of emotional in the dugout so I think it almost took a couple innings to kind of get back to baseball. But it’s definitely something we look forward to playing here, and it definitely helps us in a tough stretch.”
Max Scherzer (1-7, 7.02 ERA) is Toronto’s scheduled starter in the finale. The right-hander is 4-2 with a 2.97 ERA in nine career starts against the Mariners.
Seattle is slated to start Logan Gilbert (11-7, 3.36). The right-hander held Toronto to one hit over 7 1/3 innings July 4 at Seattle in an 11-0 win. In seven career starts against Toronto, he is 1-2 with a 4.32 ERA.
Gilbert has thrown five or more innings in his past 20 consecutive starts, tied for the fourth-longest such streak in the majors this season.
The Mariners would like to avoid another collapse Sunday after squandering a 3-0 lead Saturday.
“We’ve just got to be able to hold that lead,” Raleigh said. “We kind of went stagnant there for a while at the plate, and we’ve just got to find ways to get runners on. Whether that’s walking, bunting; just finding ways to put the pressure on them, and to keep applying that pressure is important.”
–Field Level Media
