Mariners end disappointing homestand with extra-inning loss to Blue Jays

Channeling his anger and frustration, Cal Raley searched for the right words as he tried to answer questions about everything that had gone wrong for the Seattle Mariners over the past nine games.

He pitched just 10 innings in the Sunday afternoon sun and his high-flying ball to deep center field, lacking enough carry, got caught on the warning track for the final out and a disappointing 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays . ,

After hearing the crowd of fans celebrating his defeat at T-Mobile Park, he changed out of his sweaty uniform for workout gear and headed to the weight room.

It was a workout to maintain strength, but also an outlet for his frustration after a terrible homestand for a team trying to maintain the lead in the AL West. Still breathing heavy and drenched in new sweat and also aware of television cameras recording his comments, he tried to offer some insight into how the Mariners lost the three-game series at home. And in the process their condition got so bad.

“It’s never good when you lose a series, let alone three in a row,” he said after a pause. “You need to have a short-term memory and forget about it.”

But it was clear that this most recent defeat would be a long-lasting one. He didn’t lose the game, but essentially gave up, with a series of unsuccessful and unproductive at-bats late, many of them strikeouts, against one of baseball’s worst bullpens. The Mariners went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left a small village of runners stranded on base – 15 to be exact.

“We didn’t do anything,” Raleigh said. “There’s nothing really to say at this point. We did not come. You have to find a way. That falls on us, not anyone else but the players. When we’re in the box, it’s on us. We have to adjust and we have to find a way to get it done.”

Seattle came into the homestand with an impressive 27–12 record at home, but has lost six of nine games to fall to 30–18. Since they defeated the Rangers in a three-game series in Seattle on June 14–16, the Mariners have lost six consecutive three-game series.

Manager Scott Servais said, “I think we played very well on this homestand.” “We were into all the sports. We were there. It was a matter of getting a big breakthrough at the right time. We had opportunities to win a lot of these games late, but we didn’t execute on them. We didn’t come late to the game. If you don’t come in late, you won’t win, I don’t care how good your pitching is. You have to do something offensively and we haven’t done it consistently.”

The Mariners went 10 for 77 (.130) with three homers, 16 runs scored and 28 strikeouts with runners in scoring position on the homestand, which is terrible production. Since the June 19 shutout at Cleveland, the Mariners are 21 for 127 (.165) with four homers, 35 runs scored and 43 strikeouts.

The Mariners got a useful start from George Kirby. He held the Blue Jays to just one run over the first six innings. His teammates gave him better run support than expected, scoring four runs via a home run off Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios.

Victor Robles, who was starting in place of Julio Rodriguez in center field, hit his first homer as a member of the Mariners. He hit a solo homer into the upper deck in the third inning to take a 1–0 lead.

With the score tied at 1 in the fifth inning, Mitch Garver took advantage of his former Twins teammate’s errant changeup, sending a fly ball into the Blue Jays’ bullpen for a three-run homer.

“I thought it would be enough when the Pride got the big homer,” Servais said.

it was not

Kirby started the seventh inning, but did not record an out. He allowed back-to-back singles to the first two batters – Alejandro Kirk and Leo Jimenez.

With the top of the order under threat and not wanting to have to face Kirby for the fourth time in the game, the Mariners turned to right-hander Ryne Stanek.

He promptly struck out Kevin Kiermaier with a strikeout. But George Springer’s 0-1 fastball remained in the zone and off the plate. Even at 98 mph, this was a pitch Springer could handle. He corrected the error, sending a fly ball over the wall to deep right-center for a three-run homer. It was Springer’s 25^th Career homers and 15 against the Mariners^th At T-Mobile Park. The only opposing park where he has hit more homers is Angel Stadium (17).

The Blue Jays looked like they could add more when two more runners reached, but Stanek managed to get out of the inning without any further loss.

With the score tied at 4, the Mariners had ample opportunity to take the lead. Berrios walked Robles and gave up a single to J.P. Crawford to start the seventh. Toronto brought in right-hander Nate Pearson. He got Garver to fly out to foul field, Raley to fly out to right field and Luke Raley to strike out to end the threat.

In the eighth, Seattle loaded the bases with two outs when Zach Popp was hit by a pitch to Rodriguez, who was pinch hitting for Robles. But Crawford, who came into the game hitting over .600 with the bases loaded, was thrown out at second off lefty Brandon Little.

In the ninth against the Blue Jays against Chad Green, Raley singled with one out and Raley hit a line drive to left-center that bounced off the wall for a double. Had it hit the wall, there would have been a good chance that Raleigh would have scored the game-winning run. Green struck out Ty France, intentionally walked Josh Rojas and forced Jorge Polanco into foul field while falling to end the inning.

The Mariners looked like they might get through the top of the 10th without allowing a runner to score when Colin Snyder retired Justin Turner and Bo Bichette with fly outs to right. But Daulton Varsho gave Toronto the lead with two outs.

With pinch-runner Ryan Bliss on second to start the inning, Dylan Moore got one of two hits with a runner in scoring position in the game and a one-out single off the chest of Vlad Guerrero at third. Bliss and Moore advanced on base on a double steal, meaning the Mariners had their two fastest runners score the tying run on third and the winning run on second. But lefty Genesis Cabrera forced Crawford to fly to wrong field for the second out. Gaver drew a walk to bring Raleigh to the plate. But the big catcher, who has troubled the Blue Jays in the past, couldn’t do anything.

“Every situation is different depending on who is on the mound,” Servais said. “We had pitches to hit or make plays and we just couldn’t execute on them. You have to execute late in games. This is something we’re generally very good at. This doesn’t always happen for us. But it’s frustrating when you have so many chances. Tonight everyone goes home shaking their heads. This is a game we should have won.”

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