Seager and Cruz power M’s to 6-3 victory over Blue Jays
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners had been waiting for a big day from Kyle Seager to spark their struggling offence, and they finally got it Sunday.
Seager hit two home runs and Nelson Cruz added another as the Mariners powered their way to a 6-3 win over the Toronto
Blue Jays.
“We had the Seager game today,” manager Scott Servais said. “We’ve been waiting for that one and Kyle was huge there.”
The Mariners had been held to three or fewer runs in 18 of their last 23 games, including three straight losses to the Jays to begin the series, but got 10 hits Sunday as they snapped a five-game losing streak.
“It’s been a rough stretch here offensively, but hopefully today is a bright spot and we turn the corner here going forward,” said Servais.
Toronto tied the game at 3-3 in the seventh after shortstop Aledmys Diaz hit his 14th home run of the season against Seattle starter Mike Leake, but the Mariners responded in the bottom of the inning. Cruz and Seager homered back-to-back against reliever Joe Biagini (1-6) with one out, after Jean Segura led off the inning with a single.
“Today felt good and hopefully we continue to put up some good at-bats and score some runs,” Seager said.
Seager had gone 21 games without a home run before hitting his 17th and 18th of the season Sunday. He recorded his eighth career multihomer game and his 31st multi-hit game of the season.
Zach Duke (4-4) picked up his first win as a Mainer when he got one out in the seventh for the win. Alex Colome pitched a scoreless eighth and Edwin Diaz locked down his major leagueleading 41st save of the season as the Mariners avoided the series sweep.
Cruz finished with four RBI, driving in the game’s first two runs with an RBI single off the glove of Diaz in the third to go along with his broken bat home run that put Seattle ahead 5-3 in the eighth. Seager hit his first solo homer of the game when he took Toronto starter Sam Gaviglio deep on the first pitch of the fifth inning, giving Seattle a 3-1 lead.