Poor Luck, Poor Start Plagues Seattle Mariners in 6-3 Loss to Toronto Blue Jays
SEATTLE — The majority of the Seattle Mariners wins this season have featured timely at-bats and critical late-game comebacks. The Mariners had multiple chances to do that again late but failed in a 6-3 loss against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle, down 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth, loaded the bases with no outs. It didn't a run from that situation. The Mariners struck out twice in the final two-at bats of the inning. They finished the game 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine stranded. They dropped to 22-15 on the season.
"Thought it was another outstanding effort tonight by the guys," Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview. "Trying to come back in that one. We got down early, but getting a lot of traffic offensively early on. I think the story for us tonight was we hit a lot of balls on the screws (where) there was a guy standing there to make the catch."
Toronto was able to get runs on the board early and, by an extension, up the pitch-count on Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo.
Addison Barger hit a one-out, two-RBI double with the bases loaded in the top of the first to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead. Castillo limited the bleeding to just those runs, but he was up to 34 pitches after the first.
Toronto added on in the top of the third. An RBI single from Ernie Clement and two-run homer from Nathan Lukes gave the Blue Jays a 5-0 lead through three and put Castillo at 69 pitches.
Seattle's three-time All-Star pitcher was pulled after the fifth. He struck out three, walked two and allowed five earned runs on seven hits (one homer).
"In terms of any pitching, when you go out there, sometimes you have good days, sometimes bad," Castillo said after the game via translator Freddy Llanos. "But today, I didn't feel like I settled in and had the rhythm that I normally do when I pitch well."
Toronto starting pitcher Kevin Gausman didn't last long, either. He was pulled after 5.1 innings. He struck out three and allowed three earned runs on seven hits.
The Mariners started to get to Gausman in the bottom of the third. Jorge Polanco hit an RBI single to score Ben Williamson and get Seattle on the board. Polanco's hit put runners on the corners for the Mariners with two outs. Julio Rodriguez lined out on a 111.1 mph laser to Barger at third to strand the pair.
Rodriguez's lineout was one of several unlucky draws for Seattle. By the bottom of the sixth inning, the Mariners had six hard-hit balls that resulted in outs. Williamson was robbed of a potential solo homer in the bottom of the fifth after a leaping grab by Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho at the wall.
"Our guys hit them hard," Wilson said. "That's what you want. You want solid contact when you're up there. That's what they got, and they just weren't able to follow them in."
Seattle applied pressure after Randy Arozarena hit an RBI single and Leody Taveras hit an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth. Those pair of knocks cut Toronto's lead to 5-3, which carried over into the bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the eighth.
Varsho scored Tyler Heineman on an RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth for the eventual final of 6-3.
The Mariners will have an opportunity to bounce back against the Blue Jays at 6:40 p.m. PT on Saturday. Logan Evans will start for Seattle and Bowden Francis will start for Toronto.
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