TORONTO – The Seattle Mariners are paying a big price for not doing the little things.
Troy Glaus singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Mariners 2-1 on Saturday, sending Seattle to its season-high eighth straight loss.
“We need to hit better with runners on third base. We need to pitch better, make a pitch in certain situations,” Mariners manager John McLaren said. “This is why we’ve lost eight in a row, we haven’t been doing those things.”
The slumping Mariners have fallen out of the race in the American League West, and are quickly losing ground in a wild-card race they were leading earlier this week. Seattle fell two games behind the New York Yankees. The Mariners began the day 6 behind the Los Angeles Angels in the West.
“The first thing you want to do is feel sorry for yourself but you can’t do that,” first baseman Ben Broussard said. “You’ve just got to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got a month of baseball left. We’ve been playing great baseball all year. We’re going to play good baseball.’ We’ve just got to believe in that.”
In an unusual gaffe, the Blue Jays cost themselves a chance to score in the second when Lyle Overbay and Aaron Hill batted out of order. Overbay flied out to start the second before Hill doubled to short left. Mariners manager John McLaren came out with his lineup card, which showed Hill preceding Overbay. After the umpires huddled to discuss the situation, Hill was called out. Overbay continued to bat ahead of Hill for the rest of the game.
The last team to bat out of order was the Kansas City Royals on July 1, 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. David DeJesus led off the first against the Angels with a single, with Angel Berroa listed as the first batter.
“That was our trump card,” McLaren said. “When Hill got on with the double, we used the trump card.”
Dustin McGowan (9-8) won for the first time in five starts. He allowed one run and six hits in eight innings, with a walk and three strikeouts.
“He’s got the ability to dominate every time out there,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “You’re not going to find a better arm, an easy arm, that you can go eight or nine innings with. He’s done a tremendous job for us.”
McGowan got a charge from pitching in a close game.
“You get a little more adrenaline because when you go out there, you know you’ve got to bear down,” McGowan said. “Sometimes the added pressure is good for you.”
Broussard had two hits against McGowan, but didn’t enjoy facing the young right-hander.
“He’s got four really good pitches,” Broussard said. “He was throwing strikes, getting ahead of people and mixing it up. He did a good job.”
Toronto scored the decisive run in the eighth off reliever Sean Green (5-2). Alex Rios led off with a walk and went to second on a single by Frank Thomas. Glaus followed with a single that bounced off the mound and through the middle, scoring Rios.
“I made the pitches I wanted to throw, it just didn’t work out,” Green said.
“Everything is amplified when you’re not playing well,” Green added. “We’re playing good baseball, we’re just missing by a little bit each day.”
Jeremy Accardo closed it out in the ninth for his 27th save in 31 opportunities.
Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the seventh when Gregg Zaun homered into the right-field bullpen.
“He pulled it really well,” Seattle starter Miguel Batista said. “You have to give credit to a guy for hitting a pitch like that. He hit a good pitch.”
Batista allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, walking three and matching a season-high with seven strikeouts.
Seattle tied the game at 1 in the eighth. Jamie Burke singled and was replaced by pinch-runners Charlton Jimerson, who stole second and went to third on Zaun’s throwing error. One out later, Jimerson scored when Ichiro Suzuki singled through the drawn-in infield.
The Blue Jays put runners at first and second with one out in the fourth and sixth, but failed to score both times.
Notes: Thomas extended his hitting streak to a season-high 11
games with a single in the first and finished 3-for-4. … Seattle has lost four straight games in Toronto and six of its past eight away from home.
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