Blue Jays’ homer in 9th hands Mariners fourth straight loss

Published 2:20 pm Sunday, May 14, 2017

TORONTO — Maybe the Seattle Mariners can reclaim their bats at U.S. Customs when they cross the border on their way back to Safeco Field.

Sunday completed a miserable four-game weekend series for the Mariners at the Rogers Centre when they suffered a 3-2 walk-off loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The end came when Kevin Pillar crushed a two-out homer in the ninth inning off Mariners closer Edwin Diaz. It was a no-doubter, a 412-foot drive over the left-field wall.

Diaz (1-2) hadn’t pitched since Tuesday but said he “was feeling great.” He got two quick outs before hanging a slider to Pillar.

“I just missed the location,” Diaz said, “and he hit that ball pretty good. He was ready for that pitch. I wanted to go down and away, and I left it in the middle.”

It’s easy to focus on Diaz’s hanging slider, or the fastball that James Pazos teed up for ex-Mariner Justin Smoak’s two-run homer in the sixth inning, but the key stat is this: The Mariners scored six runs in losing four games to Toronto.

“That’s really what cooled off: our bats,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “As good as we were going the last couple of games at home, and then picked it up in Philly … we just didn’t have that (production).

“The line was not moving. I talk all the time about passing the baton and keeping the line moving. That just wasn’t the case in this series. They did a (great) job pitching against us.”

The Mariners led 1-0 when they pulled starter Ariel Miranda after a leadoff walk in the sixth inning pushed him to 100 pitches.

Pazos struck out former Mariner Kendrys Morales, but Smoak lined a fastball 419 feet over the left-center wall. The Blue Jays led 2-1.

Jarrod Dyson pulled the Mariners even with a leadoff homer in the seventh, a 376-foot drive to right against former Mariners reliever Dominic Leone.

It was Dyson’s eighth career homer in 1,482 at-bats.

“It was a good swing,” he said. “Just not enough to put us over the top.”

The Mariners opened the scoring after Chooch Ruiz beat out a one-out infield single to third in the fifth inning. (He was called out, but the Mariners challenged, and a replay review overturned the call.)

Jean Segura then punched a liner past first base for a double and, when right fielder Jose Bautista threw wildly to second, Ruiz scored and Segura reached third base.

The chance for a bigger inning slipped away when Ben Gamel struck out, for the third time, and Nelson Cruz grounded out.

Not only hit Pillar hit a walk-off home run, he also took extra bases away from Danny Valencia with a leaping catch in center field in the fourth inning.

The Mariners had no outs with runners at first and second when Valencia sent a drive to deep center. If the ball gets over Pillar’s head, the result is likely a two-run double.