Martin saves day for Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays didn’t wait long to respond after Joe Smith blew his first save of the season Wednesday night.
Tampa Bay scored three runs off the Toronto reliever to tie the game in the eighth inning. Russell Martin then led off the bottom half of the frame with a tiebreaking solo shot to help the Blue Jays to a 7-6 victory.
“I felt like I picked him up right there and I felt like the team at that moment needed that,” Martin said. “So it was just a nice bounce-back win. A collective win. I feel like we kind of battled that one out.”
The Rays led 3-1 after four innings but Kendrys Morales capped Toronto’s four-run fifth inning with a no-doubt three-run homer.
Francisco Liriano struck out nine over seven innings, allowing two earned runs and five hits. Smith (3-0) got the win with one inning of work and Roberto Osuna closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 17th save.
The victory came after Tampa Bay dumped Toronto 8-1 a night earlier. The split of the two-game mini-series left the Blue Jays (32-33) one win away from the .500 mark.
“Good ballgame, especially after that egg we laid last night,” said Toronto manager John Gibbons.
Martin belted an 0-1 pitch from reliever Jose Alvarado (0-1) for his sixth homer of the year. It was the second loss in eight games for Tampa Bay (35-33).
“You could tell Martin’s approach from the first pitch what he was trying to do, and he made an adjustment, got a pitch he could hit and knocked it out of the park,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash.
Logan Morrison hit a two-run shot for the Rays in the eighth.
Before the game, the Blue Jays placed outfielder Ezequiel Carrera on the 10-day disabled list with a right foot fracture. Triple-A callup Dwight Smith Jr. got the start in left field and had three of Toronto’s 10 hits.
Liriano, meanwhile, worked past the sixth inning for just the second time this season.
“Shoot, he was dynamite,” Gibbons said.
The Blue Jays chased Tampa Bay starter Jake Odorizzi in the fifth inning.
Ryan Goins led off with a single and moved to third when Featherston couldn’t corral a Kevin Pillar grounder at second base. Jose Bautista drove in Goins with a single and Morales put Toronto ahead with his 13th homer of the season.
The Blue Jays will get a day off before kicking off a three-game series against the visiting Chicago White Sox on Friday. MINNEAPOLIS — Mitch Haniger and Mike Zunino homered against Ervin Santana early, and the Seattle Mariners bullpen held off the Minnesota Twins late in a 6-4 victory Wednesday night.
Ben Gamel added three hits and two runs for the Mariners, who have won 12 of 17 games. Rookie Sam Gaviglio picked up the win by pitching into the sixth inning, and four relief pitchers combined to close the door on the Twins’ attempt to come back from a 5-0 deficit.
Edwin Diaz recorded four outs and dealt with a scare in the ninth inning to pick up his 11th save in 13 opportunities and bring Seattle one win away from the .500 mark.