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Blue Jays deal Mariners' playoff hopes a blow

Sep 23, 2014 - 5:52 AM Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Jose Bautista went 3-for-3 with a home run, three runs scored and two RBI as the Toronto Blue Jays played the role of spoiler Monday with a 14-4 drubbing of the Seattle Mariners.

The playoff-hopeful Mariners have lost three in a row, dropping them two games behind the Royals for the second wild card spot in the AL.

James Paxton (6-4) had the shortest outing of his rookie campaign at the most inopportune time. Toronto knocked out the left-hander in the third inning, touching him for nine runs -- eight earned -- on seven hits and six walks.

"My guys will be ready to play tomorrow," said Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon. "They know what's at stake."

Danny Valencia tripled in three runs in the first inning, Edwin Encarnacion's two-run single highlighted a five-run second inning, and Kevin Pillar and Anthony Gose both homered in the blowout.

J.A. Happ (10-11) benefited from the run support and picked up the win with seven quality innings of two-run ball.

"I made a few changes physically with my mechanics," Happ said. "There's a constant battle mentally, trying to get yourself in the right frame of mind and be positive. That's something I've battled before. So I feel good about where I've come."

Austin Jackson led off the opener of this four-game series with a single and scored when Robinson Cano sliced a double into the left-field corner, but from then on it was all Blue Jays.

A single by Bautista followed by two walks loaded the bases in Toronto's first turn, and Valencia lined one into the left-field gap to clear the bags.

Valencia was credited with a triple after replay overturned an out call at third, and Steve Tolleson's two-out base hit gave Toronto a 4-1 lead.

Bautista was thrown out at home by Chris Denorfia to end the second, but the Jays loaded the bases again in the third and pushed five more across.

Jose Reyes singled off the glove of Kyle Seager at third to bring in a run, and Bautista worked a two-out walk to force in another, ending Paxton's forgettable outing.

Pillar slid in safely on a passed ball, and another ball off Seager's glove off the bat of Encarnacion allowed two more to come around.

Cano dropped Chris Taylor's low throw on a force out at second base in the fourth, and Tolleson scored another Toronto run on the error.

In the fifth, Bautista cranked a no-doubt solo shot off the facing of the second deck for his 35th home run of the season.

Seager hit a solo homer in the sixth, Pillar countered with a two-run blast in the bottom half and Gose tacked on a solo shot in the seventh.

Seager's RBI groundout in the eighth, and Denorfia's solo blast in the ninth accounted for the final tally.

Game Notes

Happ's 10th win gave the Blue Jays five starters with double-digit wins for the first time in franchise history ... The Mariners came in an AL-best 30-21 in games started by opposing left-handers ... Paxton, the 18th Canadian to make a pitching start in Canada, saw his ERA rise from 2.06 to 3.03 ... Seattle's Felix Hernandez goes against fellow Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey on Tuesday.