Blue Jays Fall to Mariners, Slide Continues

WP:  Chris Young  –  6.2IP, 2H, 1ER, 2BB, 3K

LP:  J.A. Happ  –  6.0IP, 7H, 4ER, 1BB, 1K

S:  Fernando Rodney  (34)  Note:  Straighten up your hat, young man.

The Toronto Blue Jays fell again to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday Night by a score of 6-3, failing for consecutive nights to generate meaningful offence off of the opposition’s starter.  After managing just 3 hits against Felix Hernandez one game ago, the Blue Jays matched that hit total against the Mariners Chris Young, giving J.A. Happ another dose of the bare-bones run support he has become accustomed to.

The Blue Jays offence seemed ready to pounce early, as Jose Reyes (1-3, 2R) led off the game with a walk and was quickly doubled in by Melky Cabrera (2-4, RBI).  The offence stalled there, however, as the Jays were unable to cash in Cabrera and were on the defensive against Chris Young all game long.  Despite the strong season he has had, a team in the midst of a playoff race cannot afford to be dominated by someone like Chris Young in mid-August.

J.A. Happ regressed slightly from his dominant starts over the past weeks, but still did keep the Blue Jays offence in the game while doing his best to protect a beaten bullpen.  Happ did, however, allow more home runs than strikeouts with solo blasts to Kyle Seager and Kendrys Morales.  The lanky lefty started the game hot and was spotting his fastball brilliantly, but a tight strike zone and inability to finish off hitters with two strikes limited his effectiveness.

This loss moves the Blue Jays 6.5 games back of the Baltimore Orioles in an AL East race that is fading fast.  Toronto also stands 2.0 games behind Seattle and the Detroit Tigers, who are tied for the 2nd Wild Card spot behind the LA Angels.

The Blue Jays will get no sympathy from the Mariners, who send another elite arm to the mound on Wednesday night in Hisashi Iwakuma.  R.A. Dickey will counter for Toronto in hopes of salvaging a win from this trip.  With Edwin Encarnacion looking strong in AAA and expected back on Friday, the Blue Jays batters will need to rally together and return to their team-first offensive style that catapulted them to the top of the division early in the year.

MVJ:  Melky Cabrera.  With two hits and an RBI on the evening, The Melkman was a rare bright spot for the Blue Jays.  If Toronto is unable to sign Cabrera this coming offseason, I suggest we all take a second job and crowd-fund his contract.  I’m sure Rogers would kick in $1,500 to help.  Maybe.

Tomorrow’s Probable Starters:

TOR:  R.A. Dickey  (9-11, 3.99ERA)

SEA:  Hisashi Iwakuma  (10-6, 2.86ERA)