Jays Beat Mariners On Buck Martinez Day
· Yahoo Sports
Mariners 3 Blue Jays 4
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That was a terrific celebration for Buck Martinez. Seeing Tony Fernandez’s widow started me tearing up, and it didn’t stop until the first pitch of the game.
Congratulations, Buck. You deserve that.
The Jays got a very nice start from José Soriano. Seven innings, just five hits, two walks and six strikeouts, with three earned runs. He gave up a Cal Raleigh home run in the second. And he had some trouble with two outs in the fourth. Single, walk, walk, single (bringing in two runs). The first single was a very softly hit infield single that Charles McAdoo couldn’t get to quickly enough. Too bad, he could have been out of the inning without anything bad happening.
But still a good outing.
On offence, we waited until the fifth inning to get on the board and then took the lead in the seventh.
- In the fifth: With one out, Myles Straw singles. Brett Bateman walked. After Alejandro Kirk struck out, Vlad took a six-pitch walk. Then George Springer walked on a wild pitch, Straw scored, but Bateman didn’t slow down rounding third and scored. The funny part was that Cal Raleigh got the ball back to pitcher Eduard Bazardo in plenty of time to tag the runner, but Bazardo apparently didn’t know he was coming. You would have thought he would have figured it from the catcher throwing him the ball in such a rush. I’m not sure if Bateman was very smart or very lucky.
- In the sixth: McAdoo led off with a walk. Two outs later, Straw walked. Bateman singled home one. And Kirk singled home our fourth run. We could have had more. Vlad lined one to left field (116.3 mph) but right at the left fielder. Oh, I missed the big news: Kirk stole second in there, beating the throw to second.
We only had five hits on the day, but it was enough. Kade Anderson looked terrific, starting for the Mariners. They have a good pitcher there.
After Soriano’s seven innings, Tyler Rogers started the eighth. He got two strikeouts and then gave up a walk to Julio Rodríguez. John brought in Mason Fluharty to face the lefty Josh Naylor. Naylor managed a single, but Fluharty struck out Raleigh to end the inning.
Louis Varland got his 31st save, going ground out, strikeout and fly out. Very democratic to do one of each. Really nice job.
The first out of the ninth was a very nice play. Ground ball wide of first, Vlad got to the ball, made a nice toss to Varland, who barely beat Cole Young to the bag.
Jays of the Day: Varland (0.16 WPA), Springer (0.21), Bateman (0.17) and Kirk (0.09). Let’s give honourable mention to Straw for 2 hits and a walk. And Rogers, Fluharty and Soriano.
Other Award: Clement (-0.14).
Tomorrow we have game three with the Mariners. It is a 1:30 Eastern start time. Max Scherzer (1-7, 7.02) vs. Logan Gilbert (11-7, 3.36).