Had the Seattle Mariners stuck with their plan to piggyback their starting pitchers on Saturday, there might have been an uproar at T-Mobile Park.
Logan Gilbert allowed one runner in 7 1/3 innings, and the Mariners hit three homers — including a grand slam by All-Star Randy Arozarena — in an 11-0 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The rubber match of the three-game series in Seattle between the teams that met in last year’s American League Championship Series is set for Sunday.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson announced before Saturday’s game that Gilbert would have a normal start and that fellow right-hander Emerson Hancock (5-4, 3.47 ERA) would start on Sunday instead of replacing Gilbert after 65 to 75 pitches, as planned.
Gilbert retired 22 of the 23 batters he faced, allowing only a bloop single to Yohendrick Pinango into shallow left field with two outs in the fifth inning, the ball falling between outfielders Victor Robles and Arozarena.
“Everything felt good,” Gilbert said. “Any time the offense puts up that many runs, it makes it a lot easier. You feel more comfortable, more free out there to just stay on the attack. Everything worked out pretty well.”
Wilson indicated the Mariners would go with a six-man rotation until the All-Star break.
“We’re sort of re-slotting a little bit to make sure everyone’s fully rested going into and coming out of the break,” said Wilson, whose starters have pitched a major-league-high 520 1/3 innings. “So more to come on that, but that’s the approach right now.”
Arozarena, who learned before the game he’d been selected to the AL All-Star squad, went deep off Shane Bieber in the second inning to cap a five-run rally that started with two outs.
“It’s kind of a recognition of all the hard work, all the discipline, everything you’ve put into it,” Arozarena said through an interpreter. “Just being able to be among the best, you feel satisfied. It lets me know I’m going in the right direction with everything I’ve been doing.”
Seattle’s Dominic Canzone added a two-run homer in the fifth, and Cal Raleigh hit a three-run blast in the sixth.
“That was a good old-fashioned (butt) kicking on the Fourth of July,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider, whose team won the series opener 2-0 on Friday.
Blue Jays pitchers Dylan Cease and Louis Varland and infielders Ernie Clement and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. were named All-Stars, though Guerrero is expected to sit out with an ailing lower back.
The Blue Jays are scheduled to start right-hander Trey Yesavage (4-3, 3.34 ERA) in the series finale. He’s coming off a 2-1 victory Monday against the visiting New York Mets in a game in which he allowed one run on three hits over 6 2/3 innings.
Yesavage will face the Mariners for the first time in the regular season after going 1-1 against them in the ALCS last fall, just weeks after making his MLB debut on Sept. 15.
Hancock, meanwhile, got a no-decision last Sunday in a 6-5 loss at Cleveland despite giving up just one run through 5 2/3 innings. He’s 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in one previous start against Toronto.
–Field Level Media
