Happ stars in Blue Jays’ wet, wild win over Mets in New York

Toronto pitcher enjoys success on the mound and at the plate in interleague

NEW YORK — Steady rain at Citi Field should have made pitching, hitting and fielding challenging for everybody.

Instead, Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ had a blast doing all three.

Happ reached three times and allowed only two baserunners over seven scoreless innings, and Toronto got its first road win against the New York Mets, 12-1 on a wet Wednesday in Queens.

Happ (5-3) struck out 10 and walked none while pitching two-hit ball.

The left-hander also singled twice and walked in his first multihit game since 2011, when he had two hits for Houston at Citi Field.

“It was just a fun game,” Happ said. “It was fun being on the bases a little bit and scoring a couple runs and pitching deep into the ballgame. Have to feel good about that one.”

The 35-year-old is the first AL pitcher to throw seven innings and match or out-hit his opponent since the Angels’ Clyde Wright against the Rangers on Sept. 14, 1972, per STATS. The AL adopted the designated hitter rule the next year.

Happ also helped himself with a sliding, barehanded play to field Luis Guillorme’s grounder in the fifth.

“He was outstanding on a tough day to play,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Whether you’re a pitcher or anybody else. Yeah, he held it together.”

Toronto was 0-12 against the Mets in New York, the longest such skid against one team in interleague history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Justin Smoak, Teoscar Hernandez and Richard Urena each homered and drove in three runs as Toronto piled up 15 hits. The Blue Jays had averaged 2.8 runs over its past 11 games, batting .211 with a .630 OPS while going 3-8.

“One thing we can do, we can hit,” Gibbons said. “It’s been a little dry lately, but we can strike pretty quick.”

RANGERS 5, MARINERS 1

SEATTLE — Bartolo Colon laughed off having a line drive hit him in the stomach, allowing four hits in 7 2/3 shutout innings and giving the Texas Rangers a 5-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.

On the cusp of his 45th birthday, Colon (2-1) put together arguably his best performance this season. He was excellent spotting his fastball and using his breaking pitches to keep Seattle off balance, a night after the Mariners scored nine runs.

Kyle Seager homered in the ninth.

The Associated Press Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher J.A. Happ, left, tosses the ball to first baseman Justin Smoak to throw out New York Mets’ Luis Guillorme during the fifth inning of their MLB interleague game Wednesday in New York. The Blue Jays won 12-1.

The Associated Press Seattle Mariners first baseman Ryon Healy reaches for the throw in time to get Texas Rangers’ Jurickson Profar (19) out during Wednesday’s game in Seattle.