Mariners Bounce Back, Take Series From Jays

After a painful loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, the Mariners got back on track Thursday, bashing the Blue Jays 9-3 to secure another series win on the road to begin 2018.

It is often funny how insignificant little things can change the game. In the first inning of the Mariners game Thursday, Seattle had Blue Jays “Ace” JA Happ on the ropes. He had thrown a ton of pitches but was just one strike away from exiting the inning unscathed.

However, Ryon Healy went to work, fouling off several pitches to keep the at-bat alive. He eventually walked, which allowed Kyle Seager to end the game before it even truly began. Seager uncorked a 1-2 fastball into the stands, and the Mariners suddenly had a 4-0 lead.

But Seager wasn’t done with the long ball and neither were the Mariners. Seager would hit another in the 5th. Ryon Healy would add one for himself in the second, and Mike Zunino uncorked a ball over the restaurant in left-center field.

In total, the Mariners bashed the Jays for 9 runs on 17 hits. Jean Segura followed up his 3 hit game on Wednesday with a 4 hit game Thursday. Every Mariners starter reached base tonight, including 3 hits from Andrew Romine.

Not to be overshadowed, starter Mike Leake was as good as he has been in 2018. Leake threw 7 innings of 6 hit ball walking only 1. The only blemish came on a 2-run homer surrendered to Russell Martin in the 2nd. Leake also added 6 strikeouts to his line to pick up his 4th victory of the season.

The Blue Jays mounted a minor threat in the 8th, loading the bases with no outs. James Pazos entered the game and immediately quelled the threat with a quick double play and strikeout to limit the damage to 1 run.

Next: Thank You Ichiro

The Mariners will try to continue their hot road play against the Detroit Tigers starting tomorrow. Marco Gonzales will look to continue his hot streak against Northwest native Matthew Boyd. First pitch is at 4:10 PDT.