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Blue Jays pound Mariners to avert sweep

May 5, 2013 - 10:19 PM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Mark DeRosa went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and Brandon Morrow lasted eight strong innings as the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a three-game series sweep to the Seattle Mariners with a 10-2 victory over Sunday at Rogers Centre.

DeRosa added two doubles and scored three runs, Melky Cabrera had three hits and two RBI -- including his first home run of the season -- and Munenori Kawasaki had two hits and drove in two runs in the much-needed victory.

"It's not like we're just waiting to get on a roll," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "We needed a win and they're hard to come by."

Morrow (1-2) allowed just three hits and two runs and struck out eight despite issuing five walks for the Blue Jays, who had a season high-tying four-game losing streak come to an end.

Robert Andino and Kyle Seager drove in Seattle's only two runs. Joe Saunders (2-4) was tagged for seven runs on nine hits, including both Toronto homers, over five innings. All of his losses this season have come on the road.

The Mariners had won three straight and six of seven coming in.

"(Morrow) mixed it up quite a bit," Seager said. "He has good stuff. We were able to get a couple guys on but they didn't give us too many opportunities, and he got through."

After Seattle closed its deficit to 3-2 in the fifth with Andino's fielder's choice to short and Seager's sacrifice fly to left, the Blue Jays put the game out of reach in the bottom half.

Saunders met his demise in the fifth, allowing both critical homers. Cabrera clubbed a leadoff shot to make it 4-2 Toronto, but the home team wasn't done yet. DeRosa came up four batters later with runners on first and second and crushed Saunders' 1-1 offering over the centerfield wall to break it open for a 7-2 advantage.

"A guy like Melky, running out getting three hits, getting his first homer," DeRosa said. "We need him to swing the bat."

Toronto increased its edge to 10-2 over the next two innings. Edwin Encarnacion's fielder's choice in the sixth drove in one run, while Kawasaki and Cabrera each hit RBI singles in the seventh.

Toronto entered the final game of the series having been outscored 12-1, but broke out the bats early on Sunday.

Jose Bautista's sacrifice fly to shallow right in the first, plated Rajai Davis, who smacked a leadoff double to start the frame and moved to third on a sac bunt, to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. The hosts then struck for two more runs in the second.

J.P. Arencibia and DeRosa hit a single and a double, respectively to open up the inning and Maicer Izturis poked a single to right to make it 2-0. Later in the frame, with runners on second and third with one out, Kawasaki's RBI groundout to short added the final tally.

Game Notes

Seattle was looking for its first sweep of the Jays in Toronto since May 11-13, 2001 ... Morrow is 4-1 all-time versus his former team. His last victory overall came on Oct. 3 of last season ... Toronto had lost all four of its games in May by a 25-3 margin ... The Jays improved to 8-0 this season when scoring five or more runs.