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Blue Jays rout Mariners

Aug 17, 2011 - 6:46 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - The Toronto Blue Jays put on a batting clinic Tuesday night at Safeco Field, pounding out 15 hits en route to a 13-7 victory over the Seattle Mariners in the second test of a three-game set.

Colby Rasmus and Aaron Hill paced the Blue Jays with four RBI apiece and Jose Bautista chipped in with a two-run homer, his major league-leading 35th homer of the season.

Luis Perez (2-2) worked four innings in relief to earn the win, giving up one run on three hits while fanning three and walking two.

"The four innings by Luis Perez is probably the story in tonight's game," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "Just a very good overall effort from Luis and up and down our lineup."

Miguel Olivo and Casper Wells smacked home runs, while Trayvon Robinson and Kyle Seager each added two RBI for the Mariners, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Jason Vargas (7-11) was tagged with eight runs on seven hits over four-plus innings. He fanned two and walked four.

The Jays came out of the gate on fire in their first at-bat, plating six runs off of Vargas -- all with two outs. The inning started well, as Vargas got Yunel Escobar to ground to third, but then the flood gates opened. Eric Thames singled, Bautista walked and Edwin Encarnacion walked two batters later to load the bases. Rasmus then rocketed a ball into the gap in right-center field, which cleared the bases for a 3-0 advantage. Rasmus then trotted home on a single by Brett Lawrie and Hill capped the scoring by blasting his sixth homer of the year over the wall in left for a 6-0 advantage.

"Vargas was up a little bit early but he was able to come back and throw up some zeros," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said of his starter. "He was throwing the ball well tonight, but just had some tough luck."

Seattle responded with three runs in the second. After Carp walked to leadoff the frame, Wells blasted a two-run homer over the wall in center and Olivo followed with a solo-shot to pull the Mariners within three at 6-3.

Wells has homered in four straight games, which matches Danny Tartabull for the Mariners' rookie record. Tartabull hit his four straight April 12-15, 1986.

In the home third, Dustin Ackley and Carp ripped back-to-back singles and Olivo walked to load the bases with two outs. Robinson came through with a two-run single to make it a one-run game and Seager ripped an RBI single into the gap in left-center to pull the Mariners even at six.

The Jays loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth on walks to Bautista and Encarnacion and a single by Adam Lind. Bautista scored on reliever Tom Wilhelmsen's wild pitch and Lind came home on a sacrifice fly by Rasmus. The inning continued with a walk to Lawrie and a second wild pitch allowed both runners to advance. Hill knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and J.P. Arencibia came up with an RBI single to give the Blue Jays a 10-6 lead and chase Wilhelmsen. Aaron Laffey came out of the Mariners bullpen and got Escobar to ground out to finally end the inning.

The Mariners pulled a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Seager to make it a 10-7 contest.

But the Blue Jays added three more runs in the sixth. Thames led off the frame with a single and Bautista followed with a blast to left-center field to make it a 12-7 game. Encarnacion walked and Lawrie singled two batters later to put runners on first and second. Hill knocked in the Jays' 13th run with an RBI single to left.

Game Notes

Prior to Tuesday's game. the Mariners released pitcher Chris Ray to make room on the 40-man roster for pitcher Danny Hultzen, the team's first round pick in the 2011 draft...Carp extended his hitting streak to 16 games...Toronto leads the season series against Seattle by a 5-3 count...Rasmus ripped his sixth double of the season in the first inning...Seager's two RBI were the first of his major league career...It was the Mariners' seventh consecutive game with nine or more hits...Blue Jays starter Brad Mills gave up six runs on six hits over three innings of work.