Mariners 5 - 7 Blue Jays
Final
  for this game

Blue Jays hand Seattle 12th straight loss

Jul 22, 2011 - 12:01 AM

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Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Rajai Davis ripped a two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning, as the Toronto Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep of the floundering Seattle Mariners with a 7-5 victory.

The Mariners, who have dropped a season-high 12 consecutive games, tied the contest in the top half of the eighth on Miguel Olivo's grand slam.

David Pauley (5-4) surrendered Davis' double to suffer the loss.

Jon Rauch (4-3) recorded the last five outs of the game for the Blue Jays, who have won eight of their last 10.

Pauley quickly retired Corey Patterson and J.P. Arencibia before Mike McCoy doubled to left, Yunel Escobar walked and Davis, who entered as a pinch-runner an inning earlier, sliced the decisive double to right.

In the top of the inning, back-to-back singles from Ichiro Suzuki and Brendan Ryan preceded a walk by Adam Kennedy, as the Mariners loaded the bases with one down and chased Ricky Romero from the game.

Romero had retired eight consecutive batters before Suzuki's single. He was charged with four runs on five hits while striking out nine over 7 1/3 innings.

"I thought Ricky threw seven outstanding innings for us," said Blue Jays manager John Farrell.

Casey Janssen spelled Romero with disastrous result, as his second offering -- a 1-0 cutter -- was belted over the center field wall by Olivo for the equalizing grand slam.

Janssen then allowed consecutive singles to Justin Smoak and Josh Bard before Rauch entered to prevent further damage.

"A combination of things opened the gate for them to get back in." said Farrell. "Olivo does what he can do with the power that he has. Fortunately we were able to shut it off at that point."

The Blue Jays had built the defunct advantage behind a three-run seventh.

Doug Fister, who did not allow a hit through the first 3 1/3 frames, surrendered a leadoff single to Patterson, then walked Arencibia and fumbled McCoy's sac bunt to leave the bases loaded.

Escobar scored Patterson with a single up the middle and Fister ended his day on a low note, walking Eric Thames to push another across.

"We tried to slow down [Fister's] tempo to allow our hitters to control the tempo inside the game and then he seemingly lost the strike zone in that three-run seventh," Farrell said.

Chris Ray spelled Fister and surrendered a sac fly to Jose Bautista, as the Blue Jays grabbed a 5-1 lead.

In the fifth, the Mariners broke a scoreless tie behind a Suzuki RBI single. The base hit up the middle scored Chone Figgins, who reached with a two-out walk and stole second.

The Blue Jays answered a half-inning later, as Edwin Encarnacion worked a walk and advanced into scoring position when Fister hit Arencibia. McCoy capitalized, pushing the tying run across with a double down the left field line.

Fister struck out Thames on a wild pitch to begin the home half of the sixth, allowing Thames to reach first. Bautista followed with a double, which one-hopped off the fence in left and Thames scored from first to give Toronto its first lead.

"We have to get tougher," said Mariners manager Eric Wedge. "This game will eat you up if you don't get tougher."

Game Notes

The Mariners have lost 12 consecutive games for the first time since 2008...Escobar has reached safely in 25 straight games.






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