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TORONTO(AP) The
Seattle Mariners
have recorded a major league-high 33 one-run victories this year. As the season draws to an end, they're starting to pile
up one-run losses, too.
Pinch-hitter
Adam Lind
had a tying RBI single in the eighth inning and
Rod Barajas
followed with a go-ahead double, helping the
Toronto Blue Jays
rally for another dramatic 5-4 victory over the Mariners on Sunday. Seattle is 33-20 in one-run games.
''It's tough when you lose games the way we have the last few days,'' shortstop
Josh Wilson
said.
Toronto grabbed the lead with three runs in the eighth one day after Lind homered twice, including a game-ending solo drive
in the 10th inning, to power the
Blue Jays
to a 5-4 win that included Seattle star
Ichiro Suzuki
's first career ejection.
Seattle went 2-4 on its six-game road trip, including a 5-4 loss at Tampa Bay on Wednesday. In all three of those 5-4 defeats,
the Mariners lost the lead in the eighth inning.
''On this road trip we've put ourselves in position to win a lot of games, maybe go 5-1 if we get out of the eighth inning,''
manager
Don Wakamatsu
said. ''But we had three games this road trip with eighth-inning struggles. You can't do that, obviously, against good-hitting
clubs and good ballclubs.''
Toronto won six of seven on its final homestand of the season and finished 44-37 at the Rogers Centre, winning back-to-back
series for the first time since June 5-11 against Kansas City and Texas.
''The whole homestand we played great baseball,'' Barajas said. ''We went 6-1, took care of the home crowd. It was great for
us. Hopefully we can build on this going into next year.''
John McDonald
started Sunday's winning rally with a leadoff double against Ryan Rowland-Smith.
Jose Bautista
followed with an RBI single and
Aaron Hill
walked before
Miguel Batista
came out of the bullpen to strike out
Edwin Encarnacion
and
Vernon Wells
.
Hitting for rookie
Randy Ruiz
, Lind slammed a two-strike single to center to tie it at 4. Barajas then doubled to left-center.
''He's a tremendous looking hitter,'' Wakamatsu said of Lind. ''He's patient, knows the strike zone, has the ability to hit
the other way and has the power to deliver.''
Wakamatsu said he was reluctant to use closer
David Aardsma
for more than one inning this late in the season, particularly because the right-hander has been bothered by a sore neck for
the past few days.
Brian Wolfe
(2-2) pitched one inning for the win and
Shawn Camp
closed it out for his first save since 2006, when he pitched for Tampa Bay.
Matt Tuiasosopo
hit his first career home run, one of four solo shots by Seattle.
Kenji Johjima
,
Franklin Gutierrez
and
Mike Sweeney
also went deep.
''When a guy's pitching like Rowland-Smith out there, you need to be able to tack on some other runs with that,'' Wakamatsu
said.
Suzuki went 0 for 4 and was hit by a pitch, dropping his average to .351. Suzuki is second to Minnesota catcher
Joe Mauer
in the AL batting race.
It's the first time Suzuki has gone without a hit in consecutive games since Aug. 13-15, 2008. He went 0 for 3 in Saturday's
loss before being ejected for arguing a called third strike.
Rowland-Smith (4-4) allowed five runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings.
''I ran out of gas in the eighth inning,'' Rowland-Smith said. ''I felt like I was good and then I couldn't make a pitch.''
Johjima and Tuiasosopo hit back-to-back homers in the fifth, with Gutierrez adding his 18th of the season two outs later.
Johjima's homer was his ninth.
Toronto made it 3-2 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Barajas and an RBI single from
Kevin Millar
that went under Wilson's glove.
''That ball started out above my head,'' Wilson said. ''Following it down is the toughest thing about it, not knowing whether
it's going to be in the air or on the ground. One way or another I should have made that play. It ended up costing us a run
and potentially cost us the game.''
Sweeney connected against Wolfe in the eighth for his eighth homer of the year.
Toronto left-hander
Brian Tallet
allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings.
A crowd of 39,052 boosted Toronto's season attendance to 1,876,129, a decline from the 2,400,416 it drew in 2008.
NOTES: Seattle 1B
Russell Branyan
, out since Aug. 29 with a sore lower back, is still experiencing pain and may not play again this season. ''It doesn't look
real promising right now that he'll finish the year,'' manager
Don Wakamatsu
said. ... Mariners 3B
Adrian Beltre
returned to the lineup after missing Saturday's game with a sore left foot. Beltre fouled a pitch off his foot Friday. ...
Twenty-one different Seattle players have hit home runs this season, matching a team record. ... The Mariners dressed their
rookies in black and white cheerleader costumes for the flight home to Seattle. ... Toronto LHPs
Brett Cecil
and
Marc Rzepczynski
, who were shut down earlier this month after reaching their innings limits, have gone home for the year.
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