There was something familiar about the way the Mariners defeated the Blue Jays in front of an emotionally charged 44,921 crowd at T-Mobile Park on Saturday afternoon.
Familiar, yes, as they simply beat the Blue Jays again, for the tenth time in their last 12 games, if you count the playoff series win in Toronto last October.
More important to coach Scott Servais, however, was the familiar way his team clinched a 9-8 win to stay within striking distance of the American League wildcard pursuit.
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After falling three runs late and then needing a brave performance from his bullpen to end a dramatic comeback, Servais recalled 2022 when the Mariners ended their two-decade playoff drought because of so many of those strained and tense performances.
“Huge victory,” he said. “That’s how we played a lot of games last year, just with an attitude of never giving up. And to achieve that, everyone has to do their part, everyone has to come out of their shells and just focus on the team.”
Cal Raleigh hit two home runs, Teoscar Hernandez made the game-winning goal against his former team for the second straight game, and Justin Topa missed the game-winning run at third base for only the second save of his career.
This was possibly the best and most exciting win of the season for the Mariners (50-48), who racked up three straight wins to earn the third and final wildcard spot in 3.5 games against the Blue Jays (54-45).
Is it sustainable?
Can the Mariners really build momentum, wrap up a series run on Sunday and convince the front office to add a significant piece or two before the August 1 trading deadline?
That’s obviously the goal, to bring a degree of consistency to a team that has been far from successful this season.
“It was just tough,” said first baseman Ty France. “They’ve seen us all year – we’ll have two or three good games and then two or three bad ones. Talking to the guys and being here in the dressing room, you know, we’re not really focused on that [the trade deadline]. Obviously it’s in the back of our minds, but they’re going to do what they’re going to do [in the front office] despite it. We just have to keep going and hope that we can keep going like this.”
A game like Saturday’s could change the mindset – and general direction – of the organization over the next ten days.
In the seventh inning, the Mariners were down 7-4, having nine batters on the plate and hitting five runs from Toronto’s bullpen.
France were hit by substitute Nate Pearson’s first throw; Dylan Moore followed with a one-out double; and Kolten Wong came through with a solid RBI single.
JP Crawford followed with a two-run double on the right field line just after Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s attempted vault, scoring Moore and Wong for a 7-7 equalizer.
Julio Rodriguez was then hit by new substitute Yimi Garcia’s first shot. Hernandez, who hit the walkoff from right field wall Friday night, then delivered a two-strike, two-out double to left field. Crawford scored easily and Rodriguez slid feet first just before the relay toss to give the Mariners a 9-7 lead.
Raleigh, Moore and Rodriguez all hit home runs – all solo throws – in the third inning to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead over Toronto star Kevin Gausman.
It wouldn’t last.
The Blue Jays responded with one run in the fourth and four runs in the fifth, hitting three of their own home runs (by Kevin Kiermaier, Brandon Belt and Guerrero) ahead of the Mariners’ Logan Gilbert.
It’s only the sixth MLB game since 1961 in which both teams have hit three home runs in an inning, and the first since 2018.
Gilbert was sharp early on but quickly backed off, allowing five runs over five innings.
The Blue Jays added two more runs in the seventh game to take a 7-4 lead, one of which was due to a fielding error by Hernandez in right field.
Rookie reliever Isaiah Campbell, recalled earlier in the day from Double-A Arkansas, ensured George Springer reached the final of the seventh inning, overloaded bases and eventually earned his first career win.
Andres Munoz threw a scoreless pitch in the eighth inning, and with closer Paul Sewald unavailable — he’d pitched the previous two nights — the Mariners turned to Topa for a game-stopper.
The Blue Jays scored a run ahead of Topa through Cavan Biggio’s soft single to center field, reducing the Mariners’ lead to 9-8. That got runners into the turns with an out.
“You’re just trying to make it the same game, aren’t you?” Topa said. “They’re trying to calm things down. It was obviously a hostile crowd – there were more Jays fans out there today than Mariners fans. But I just tried to keep it simple and attack the guys.”
With the crowd on their feet, Topa got Kiermaier flying to the second out and then finished it off with a midfield jumper groundball to Wong behind second base.
The stadium DJ immediately played Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” and Swift’s sold-out show next door at Lumen Field was scheduled to begin a few hours later.
The Mariners have beaten the Blue Jays six times in a row in Seattle. They’ll try to make it at seven on Sunday.
“Can you imagine if you had tickets to Taylor Swift and you just saw that game?” Servais said. “What a day, isn’t it? It doesn’t get any better than that.”