TORONTO — George Springer hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth inning, Alejandro Kirk added a solo home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Friday night, extending their winning streak to five.
The Mariners have lost three straight and seven of 10.
It was the first meeting between the teams since Game 2 of last October’s AL wild-card round, when Seattle overcame an 8-1 deficit to beat Toronto 10-9 and sweep their postseason series.
Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah and Mariners righty Luis Castillo dueled in Game 1 of that series. They matched up again in this one, but neither figured in the decision. Each allowed two runs and six hits in five innings.
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh hit a three-run homer off Manoah in Game 1 last season and connected off the Blue Jays All-Star again Friday, opening the scoring with a solo drive in the second. The homer was Raleigh’s third.
The drive snapped Toronto’s streak of 25 consecutive scoreless innings. The Blue Jays’ record of 28 innings was set in June 1985.
Kirk tied it with a two-out drive off Castillo in the bottom half, his second.
Raleigh drove in Jarred Kelenic with an RBI single in the third, but the Blue Jays again answered in the bottom half. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drew a two-out walk and scored on Matt Chapman’s double.
Kirk singled off Mariners right-hander Trevor Gott (0-1) to begin the sixth, but was erased one out later on a fielder’s choice grounder by Whit Merrifield. Gott hit Kevin Kiermaier with a pitch and Springer cashed in with a single to center.
Left-hander Tim Mayza (1-0) pitched one inning for the win. Yimi Garcia worked the seventh, Erik Swanson handled the eighth, and Jordan Romano finished for his ninth save in 10 chances.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: Springer led off and played right field. He left Wednesday’s win over Chicago after being hit on the right hand by a pitch. Toronto was off Thursday.
TEO’S IN TOWN
Toronto welcomed former slugger Teoscar Hernández with a pregame video, and fans gave Hernández a brief ovation before his first at-bat. Manoah fanned Hernández to strand two runners. Hernández finished 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, all against Manoah.
NEW THREADS
The Mariners unveiled the new City Connect jerseys they’ll wear in Friday home games the remainder of the season.
UP NEXT
RHP Chris Flexen (0-4, 8.86) starts for Seattle on Saturday against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (2-2, 2.84). Gausman started Game 2 of last year’s wild-card series against Seattle.
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