Romero’s slump continues as Seattle Mariners edge Toronto Blue Jays 3-2

Miguel Olivo homered and Kyle Seager had three hits as Seattle extended Toronto starter Ricky Romero’s losing streak in a 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

Romero lasted only four-plus innings and has now dropped 13 straight decisions. It’s the longest streak in the major leagues this season and the longest for a Blue Jay in a single year.

One of Toronto’s few highlights came in the fourth inning when Edwin Encarnacion belted his 39th home run of the season. His two-run shot came off Mariners starter Kevin Millwood (6-12), who allowed just one other hit over five innings of work.

The four Seattle relievers were tremendous, holding the Blue Jays without a hit over the last four innings. Tom Wilhelmsen pitched the ninth for his 26th save.

Toronto (64-77) has dropped two straight to the Mariners and will try to avoid a sweep in Thursday night’s series finale at Rogers Centre. Seattle improved to (69-74) with the win.

Olivo opened the scoring in the second inning with a rainbow solo homer that just cleared the wall in left-centre field. The Mariners followed with a pair of singles before Romero got out of the jam with a strikeout and flyout.

Seattle padded its lead with a pair of runs in the fourth.

Brandon Ryan drew a two-out walk and moved to third when Dustin Ackley sliced a pitch into left field that bounced into the seats for a ground-rule double.

Franklin Gutierrez drove in both runners with a single to right field. Toronto outfielder Moises Sierra had a chance to throw out Ackley at home plate but his throw was offline.

Millwood retired the first 10 batters in order before finally giving up a walk to Colby Rasmus.

Encarnacion followed with his no-doubt blast into the second deck in left field. He moved just one homer away from Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton, who entered play Wednesday night leading the major leagues with 40 home runs.

Romero (8-14) was pulled after putting two runners on to open the fifth inning.

He gave up eight hits, three earned runs and walked four batters. Romero posted three strikeouts and threw just 48 of his 87 pitches for strikes.

Steve Delabar came on in relief and struck out Olivo before walking Mike Carp to load the bases. He settled down and got Trayvon Robinson and Ryan on strikeouts.

Only 13,519 fans took in the action. The roof was open at Rogers Centre for the duration of the two-hour 55-minute game.