Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (29) hits his second home run of the game against the Toronto Blue Jays during tenth inning American League MLB baseball action in Toronto, Sunday, April 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Lahodynskyj
TORONTO – Cal Raleigh slammed a two-run homer in the 10th inning and the Seattle Mariners earned a 10-8 comeback win to avoid a series sweep against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.
The win halted the Mariners’ (12-16) four-game losing streak and snapped the Blue Jays’ (18-10) six-game winning streak before 40,158 at Rogers Centre.
Raleigh’s extra-inning blast to right field came off Toronto reliever Zach Pop (1-1) with one out and was his second of the contest.
Paul Sewald (2-0) worked the ninth for the win. Reliever Matt Brash yielded a George Springer single for the Blue Jays’ 14th hit but recovered for his first save of the year.
The Mariners overcame a three-run deficit with a one-out, two-run homer to right centre from Raleigh in the eighth inning off Toronto reliever Anthony Bass and a game-tying, two-out single to right from J.P. Crawford in the ninth off Yimi Garcia.
Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt struck out the first two Mariners he faced. He then walked Jarred Kelenic and Raleigh and hit Teoscar Hernandez to load the bases.
Fresh off the injured list after a broken right hand he suffered in spring training, Taylor Trammell crushed his first career grand slam down the right-field line.
Bassitt was unhappy with a called ball in the Kelenic at-bat. After he reviewed the pitch in the dugout on a tablet, Bassitt had a hissy fit, slamming down the device twice.
The Blue Jays righty had a prolonged discussion with home plate umpire Mark Carlson after the second inning.
Bassitt lasted five innings. He gave up a single to Kolten Wong after the Trammell grand slam and wound up walking four and striking out seven.
Trevor Richards relieved Bassitt and surrendered Hernandez’s seventh homer of the season to right field with one out in the sixth. It was the first run the Blue Jays bullpen surrendered during the six-game homestand after 15 shutout innings.
Mariners starter Marco Gonzales pitched three innings. After his teammates spotted him a 4-0 lead, Gonzales allowed a two-run double from Matt Chapman in the first inning and Bo Bichette’s three-run bomb in the second.
Bichette’s sixth homer was a 460-foot shot to the second deck in left-centre field after Santiago Espinal reached base on a fielder’s choice and moved to second on Springer’s single.
The Blue Jays struck for three more in the third after an infield hit from Chapman, a one-out single to right from Alejandro Kirk and a two-out double down the left-field line from Danny Jansen.
Jansen scored on Espinal’s single to left to put Toronto ahead 8-4.
MERRI TIMES
Whit Merrifield extended his on-base streak to a perfect 21-for-21 in 2023 with a seventh-inning single to centre field.
Merrifield has batted .320 with 24 hits, seven doubles, 10 RBIs and seven walks.
ON DECK
The Blue Jays begin a four-game series at Fenway Park on Monday against the Boston Red Sox. Jose Berrios (2-3) will start for Toronto, while Corey Kluber (1-4) is set to take the mound for Boston.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2023.
