Here we go.
May 16: Seattle 2 Toronto 4 - Yusei Kikuchi made his first career start against his original MLB team and was absolutely superb, tossing six innings of one-hit shutout. Bichette and Chapman each hit an early solo HR to give him a lead. It took no less than five Toronto relievers to get the final nine outs, but they managed. With Romano unavailable, it was Cimber who closed it out.
May 17: Seattle 0 Toronto 3 - Another outstanding game from a starting pitcher, as Jose Berrios scattered six hits over seven innings. Phelps and Cimber finished it off. A bases loaded triple from Springer in the second innings provided all the day's scoring.
May 18: Seattle 5 Toronto 1 - Seattle salvaged the finale behind Marco Gonzalez, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third allowing just a single run. Seattle went ahead in the fifth on Raleigh's solo HR off Gausman, and tacked on more on a two run by France off Richards (who was just beginning to Go Bad) and a ninth inning solo shot by Toro off Stripling, who was back in the pen now that Ryu had returned to duty.
The Mariners were still below .500 at 41-42 when Toronto came to visit in early July. But they were riding a four game winning streak, and the Blue Jays were going in the opposite direction. They had lost three straight to Tampa before setting out on their West Coast trip, and promptly lost two more to the feeble Oakland A's, before eking out a 2-1 win in the finale. This got pretty ugly pretty fast.
July 7: Toronto 3 Seattle 8 - Anthony Banda opened the game for Toronto; he faced four batters and retired one of them before being replaced by Casey Lawrence. Seattle had a 2-0 lead after the first inning. The Jays got one back, so Seattle instantly scored another off Lawrence in the second inning, and pushed across four more in the third inning to take a 7-1 lead. It all made for a stress-free evening for Marco Gonzalez.
July 8: Toronto 2 Seattle 5 - The two starters, Ross Stripling and George Kirby, were in trouble all night but each managed to hold the opposition to a pair of runs and no more. Both starters were gone after five innings with the score tied 2-2, and there it stayed, as both teams stopped hitting. The Jays got a sixth inning single from Bichette and a ninth inning single from Guerrero; the Mariners got a ninth inning single from Crawford. Ex-Jay Ryan Borucki cruised through the tenth and Romano did likewise for the Jays. Borucki also held down the Jays in the 11th and ex-Mariner Sergio Romo came out for the 11th. He issued an IBB to Santana and then gave up a three-run walkoff HR by Suarez.
July 9: Toronto 1 Seattle 2 - An outstanding pitching duel between Robbie Ray and Alek Manoah. The game was scoreless until George Springer led off the sixth with a solo HR. Manoah took a one-hit shutout, and a 1-0 lead, into the bottom of the seventh when Crawford led off with a single to right. Two pitches later, Carlos (Evil Ways) Santana struck a two-run HR and that was the ball game. Toronto put runners on first and second with one out in the ninth but Castillo got Hernandez and Chapman to ground out.
July 10: Toronto 5 Seattle 6 - Seattle finished the four game sweep by coming out on top of this back-and-forth affair. George Springer led off the game with a HR, staking Max Castillo to an early lead; Santana tied it in the second with a homer of his own. Tapia's HR put the Jays ahead in the fourth, and Bichette's two run single an inning later pushed the lead to 4-1. But in the bottom of the fifth, with the bases loaded, David Phelps got Haggerty to hit a comebacker. Phelps threw home for the first out, and Moreno fired the ball to first to complete the double play. But the ball tore through Guerrero's glove, allowing a run to score, and keeping the inning alive long enough for Rodriguez to single in another run. The Mariners tied the game an inning later on a hit batter, a wild pitch, a single, and a sac fly. Fine, said Bo Bichette, who hit a solo HR to put the Jays back on top. But in the bottom of the eighth, a crowd of Blue Jays couldn't figure out who should catch Crawford's pop, which ended up going off Moreno's glove. Evil Ways Santana followed with yet another HR, this one off Cimber, to give the Mariners their final margin of victory, and their eighth consecutive win.
Seattle would run that streak to 14 games before losing again. The Jays would stumble home after a 1-6 West Coast trip, losers of 9 of their last 10 games, and after some pause for Sober Second Thought - they fired the manager.
Let's review how these teams have played each other.
They met for three games in Toronto in the middle of May. The Jays had just stumbled, losing 6 of 7 to fall to 18-17. Seattle was just beginning to get things turned in the proper direction, after losing 10 of 11 in late April-early May. They were still looking up at .500 with their 16-19 record.
May 16: Seattle 2 Toronto 4 - Yusei Kikuchi made his first career start against his original MLB team and was absolutely superb, tossing six innings of one-hit shutout. Bichette and Chapman each hit an early solo HR to give him a lead. It took no less than five Toronto relievers to get the final nine outs, but they managed. With Romano unavailable, it was Cimber who closed it out.
May 17: Seattle 0 Toronto 3 - Another outstanding game from a starting pitcher, as Jose Berrios scattered six hits over seven innings. Phelps and Cimber finished it off. A bases loaded triple from Springer in the second innings provided all the day's scoring.
May 18: Seattle 5 Toronto 1 - Seattle salvaged the finale behind Marco Gonzalez, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third allowing just a single run. Seattle went ahead in the fifth on Raleigh's solo HR off Gausman, and tacked on more on a two run by France off Richards (who was just beginning to Go Bad) and a ninth inning solo shot by Toro off Stripling, who was back in the pen now that Ryu had returned to duty.
The Mariners were still below .500 at 41-42 when Toronto came to visit in early July. But they were riding a four game winning streak, and the Blue Jays were going in the opposite direction. They had lost three straight to Tampa before setting out on their West Coast trip, and promptly lost two more to the feeble Oakland A's, before eking out a 2-1 win in the finale. This got pretty ugly pretty fast.
July 7: Toronto 3 Seattle 8 - Anthony Banda opened the game for Toronto; he faced four batters and retired one of them before being replaced by Casey Lawrence. Seattle had a 2-0 lead after the first inning. The Jays got one back, so Seattle instantly scored another off Lawrence in the second inning, and pushed across four more in the third inning to take a 7-1 lead. It all made for a stress-free evening for Marco Gonzalez.
July 8: Toronto 2 Seattle 5 - The two starters, Ross Stripling and George Kirby, were in trouble all night but each managed to hold the opposition to a pair of runs and no more. Both starters were gone after five innings with the score tied 2-2, and there it stayed, as both teams stopped hitting. The Jays got a sixth inning single from Bichette and a ninth inning single from Guerrero; the Mariners got a ninth inning single from Crawford. Ex-Jay Ryan Borucki cruised through the tenth and Romano did likewise for the Jays. Borucki also held down the Jays in the 11th and ex-Mariner Sergio Romo came out for the 11th. He issued an IBB to Santana and then gave up a three-run walkoff HR by Suarez.
July 9: Toronto 1 Seattle 2 - An outstanding pitching duel between Robbie Ray and Alek Manoah. The game was scoreless until George Springer led off the sixth with a solo HR. Manoah took a one-hit shutout, and a 1-0 lead, into the bottom of the seventh when Crawford led off with a single to right. Two pitches later, Carlos (Evil Ways) Santana struck a two-run HR and that was the ball game. Toronto put runners on first and second with one out in the ninth but Castillo got Hernandez and Chapman to ground out.
July 10: Toronto 5 Seattle 6 - Seattle finished the four game sweep by coming out on top of this back-and-forth affair. George Springer led off the game with a HR, staking Max Castillo to an early lead; Santana tied it in the second with a homer of his own. Tapia's HR put the Jays ahead in the fourth, and Bichette's two run single an inning later pushed the lead to 4-1. But in the bottom of the fifth, with the bases loaded, David Phelps got Haggerty to hit a comebacker. Phelps threw home for the first out, and Moreno fired the ball to first to complete the double play. But the ball tore through Guerrero's glove, allowing a run to score, and keeping the inning alive long enough for Rodriguez to single in another run. The Mariners tied the game an inning later on a hit batter, a wild pitch, a single, and a sac fly. Fine, said Bo Bichette, who hit a solo HR to put the Jays back on top. But in the bottom of the eighth, a crowd of Blue Jays couldn't figure out who should catch Crawford's pop, which ended up going off Moreno's glove. Evil Ways Santana followed with yet another HR, this one off Cimber, to give the Mariners their final margin of victory, and their eighth consecutive win.
Seattle would run that streak to 14 games before losing again. The Jays would stumble home after a 1-6 West Coast trip, losers of 9 of their last 10 games, and after some pause for Sober Second Thought - they fired the manager.
