That was just not a good game of baseball for the neutral observer. Luckily most of us reading this recap are not neutral observers in the slightest and enjoyed the absolute pummelling that the Blue Jays put on the Seattle Mariners tonight. J.A. Happ had a pretty good start, although the humongous big run support didn't hurt things.
The Mariners actually took the lead first in this game when Robinson Cano hit an RBI double that scored Austin Jackson. This clearly angered the Blue Jays as they went on to score the next 11 runs in the game. It all started for Toronto in the bottom half of the first inning when James Paxton surrendered two walks that loaded the bases before Danny Valencia hit a triple to make it 3-1 Blue Jays.
Valencia was later brought home on a Steve Tolleson single to add a fourth run to the inning. The third frame saw more scoring for the good guys as it really began to hit the fan for poor old James Paxton. With the bases loaded again Jose Reyes hit a ball at third baseman Kyle Seager which was deflected to his left and resulted in everyone advancing a base. A Jose Bautista walk scored another run before they finally took the southpaw Paxton out behind the woodshed and took him out of his misery. His replacement, Brandon Maurer, quickly followed Paxton's lead by throwing a passed ball before allowing ANOTHER single to Kyle Seager that was deflected to the shortstop scoring both Reyes and Bautista. At this point the rout was on and the Blue Jays held a 9-1 lead.
The Blue Jays added another run in the fourth before Jose Bautista's 35th home run this season made it 11-1 after five innings. Kyle Seager got one back in the next inning with a solo shot of his own, but this just angered Toronto even further and Kevin Pillar one-upped Seager by hitting a two-run homer that scored Dalton Pompey as well. Anthony Gose added the extra point in the seventh to make it 14-2 with a rare deep home run to his stomping grounds in centre field.
Kendall Graveman came on to pitch the eighth inning and allowed a Brad Miller single to eventually come around and score thanks to a wild pitch and some unlucky ground outs. Sean Nolin pitched the ninth and allowed a monster home run to Chris Denorfia which made the final score 14-4.
The loss drops Seattle to 83-73 and they now sit 2.0 games back of Kansas City for the second Wild Card. It will certainly be a disappointment for Mariners fans to miss the playoffs with stars such as Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, and Robinson Cano on their team, but HEY look at the Jays!
Jays of the Day include Jose Bautista (0.119 WPA) and Danny Valencia (.243), while James Paxton gets the suckage Canadian award (-.394).
Source: FanGraphs
Tomorrow sees a nice pitching matchup as Felix Hernandez takes on R.A. Dickey, with the Mariners really needing a win to stay relevant in the Wild Card race.