Jays Beat Mariners 5-3
Posted September 21, 2010 10:19 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Toronto Blue Jays hit three home runs on Tuesday, none of them No. 50 for Jose Bautista.
So, no milestone moment on this night, although the blasts by Vernon Wells, Edwin Encarnacion and Travis Snider were plenty for starter Marc Rzepczynski in a 5-3 victory over the dreadful Seattle Mariners.
While Bautista remained stuck at 49 in his bid to become the 26th player in big-league history to reach the 50-homer plateau, the Blue Jays (76-74) moved a step closer toward securing a .500-or-better season before a crowd of 12,158.
They did it against a woefully limp lineup, as the nine Mariners (57-93) in the batting order had a combined 44 home runs, five less than Bautista. Beyond the top three of Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins and Jose Lopez, their hitters were non-factors.
Suzuki was 4-for-4 with a walk, moving within three hits of 200 for a record 10th consecutive season. Figgins, had two hits and an RBI, and Lopez added RBI singles in the first and fifth innings.
Rzepczynski (2-4), earning his first win since Aug. 13, was in trouble a couple of times but managed to avoid any big blows over his 6 1-3 innings. That was especially the case in the third, when Suzuki and Figgins reached with one out, were balked to second and third, and then stranded when Lopez hit into a fielder’s choice and Justin Smoak struck out.
Big blows weren’t a problem for the Blue Jays.
Bautista came to the plate in the first to chants of “MVP” and “Jose, Jose, Jose” sung to the tune of “Ole Ole Ole.” With the count 3-0 against Luke French (4-6), he ripped a base hit to left. Two pitches later, Wells cranked his 28th of the season to make it a 2-1 game.
Encarnacion led off the second by driving a ball off the foul pole for his 15th of the season, and in the fourth Snider crushed his 10th of the year over the wall in right centre, a two-run blast that made it 5-1.
Rzepczynski left after a one-out walk in the seventh — having allowed two runs on seven hits and three walks — and was followed by 2-3 of an inning by Shawn Camp, a frame by Scott Downs and another by Kevin Gregg, who earned his 34th save in adventure-filled ninth to extend his career-high.
Matt Tuiasosopo reached on a double when his blooper fell in front of Snider, who called off shortstop Yunel Escobar. With two outs, Suzuki picked up his fourth hit when Gregg bobbled his little bouncer to put runners on the corners and Figgins followed with an RBI single.
Gregg then recovered to strike out Lopez and end the game.
