Daulton Varsho’s two-out single in the top of the 10th inning brought home the go-ahead run as the Toronto Blue Jays rallied for a 5-4 victory against the host Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon.
George Springer hit a tying three-run homer in the seventh for the Blue Jays, who won their second in a row by the same score.
Victor Robles and Mitch Garver homered for the American League West-leading Mariners, who have lost their past six series by 2-1 margins as their division lead has been cut from 10 games to two.
With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as the automatic runner at second base, Varsho lined a single to right field off Mariners reliever Collin Snider (0-1) to bring home what proved to be the winning run.
Toronto’s Chad Green (2-1) got the victory and Genesis Cabrera pitched a scoreless 10th for his second save.
The Mariners loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, ninth and 10th but failed to score. Seattle went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15 on base.
Robles, making a rare start in center field for the ailing Julio Rodriguez (sore right quadriceps), broke a scoreless tie with a 424-foot shot into the second deck leading off the bottom of the third. It was Robles’ first homer in 17 games since the Mariners signed him on June 4 after he was released by Washington.
The Blue Jays tied it in the fourth as Bo Bichette led off with a ground-rule double to right, advanced to third on Varsho’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly to center.
Garver hit a tiebreaking three-run homer with one out in the fifth, giving the Mariners a 4-1 lead. It came after a leadoff single by Dominic Canzone and an errant throw by pitcher Jose Berrios after a sacrifice bunt by Robles.
Mariners starter George Kirby allowed just one run through the first six innings before giving up singles on soft liners to Kirk and Leo Jimenez to open the seventh. Reliever Ryne Stanek struck out Kevin Kiermaier before Springer went deep to right to tie the score at 4-4.
Kirby was charged with three runs on seven hits in six-plus innings, with one walk and eight strikeouts.
Berrios allowed four runs on seven hits in six-plus innings, with one walk and 10 strikeouts.
–Field Level Media
