SEATTLE — Willie Bloomquist singled home Raul Ibanez with the winning run in the ninth inning and the Seattle Mariners rallied to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 on Tuesday night.
Ibanez opened the inning with a walk off Scott Downs (0-2). Jose Vidro bunted him to second. Adrian Beltre, who had three hits, including a two-run home run, was intentionally walked. Shawn Camp took over and on the first pitch Bloomquist hit his game-winner into the left-center gap.
Down 6-2 in the sixth, the Mariners scored one in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth to tie the game. Richie Sexson provided the eighth-inning tying run with a leadoff home run. It was his 10th, but first since May 24.
Yuniesky Betancourt had two singles and a pair of RBI for the Mariners.
Adam Lind went 3-for-4 with three RBI for the Blue Jays. Vernon Wells also had three hits and an RBI.
Brandon Morrow (1-1) earned the victory.
Ryan Rowland-Smith, the Mariners middle reliever and lefty specialist, was pushed into his first career start because of injuries to starters Felix Hernandez and Miguel Batista. After a strong first few innings, he was exposed in the fourth as Toronto scored three runs.
Marco Scutaro opened with a single. Alex Rios worked a four-pitch walk then Wells doubled into the right-center gap, scoring Scutaro. Lyle Overbay was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
With one out, Gregg Zaun hit an apparent single to left, scoring Rios from third. But Wells, believing the ball would be caught by the shortstop, broke back to second. Left-fielder Ibanez then threw the ball to third for the force-out, turning a clean single into a fielder’s choice. Lind finished the scoring and Rowland-Smith’s outing with a RBI single to right.
The Mariners answered with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth. One scored on starter Jesse Litsch’s throwing error and the other on Betancourt’s RBI single to right.
An error by Mariners second baseman Jose Lopez opened the Jays’ three-run sixth. Wells started it with a single to center off Roy Corcoran. Overbay followed with a potential double-play grounder to Lopez but it ducked under his glove for an error. After Rolen walked, Zaun stroked a RBI single to right and Lind drilled a two-run double to left.
Betancourt had a two-out RBI single in the sixth. Beltre lined his two-run home run – his 16th – down the right-field line in the seventh on a 0-2 pitch from Jesse Carlson.
Notes: It was Canada Day Tuesday and the Mariners used it as a
promotion to attract more fans from nearby Vancouver, B.C. What it did is fill the stands with a large and vocal contingent of Blue Jay fans. “If you can’t be at home,” new Jays’ manager Cito Gaston said, “this is the second best place to be.” … Jays’ DH Matt Stairs’ sister Martha Cormier is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. She carried the Canadian flag onto the field before the game.
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