Toronto enjoys eighth-inning hit parade

BLUE JAYS 5, MARINERS 2

It was double trouble for the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night.

Trailing 2-1 in the eighth inning, the Blue Jays hammered four doubles — all off Mariners reliever Juan Nicasio — to run away with a 5-2 victory.

DH Josh Donaldson led off the eighth with a double to right-centre. Yangervis Solarte followed that up with a double to left to score Donaldson. The next batter, Justin Smoak, slashed another double to centre to score pinch runner Anthony Alford, giving the Jays the 3-2 lead. Right after that, Kevin Pillar hit a long single to left to score Smoak. Pillar was thrown out at second on the play. Russell Martin slashed yet another double. And with two out, Luke Maile hit a single to score Martin.

Martin also made a number of outstanding defensive plays at third with Donaldson the designated hitter, including fielding a grounder by Mike Zunino with his hand and then firing it to first for an out in the third.

Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez smashed his sixth homer of the season in the fourth for Toronto. He also picked up a double and a single.

The Mariners went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Toronto starter Jaime Garcia pitched well, but continued his trend of not going past the sixth inning. He was pulled after five innings, trailing Seattle 2-1. Garcia gave up three hits, five walks and struck out three. He also threw a wild pitch and hit Kyle Seager. He made his catcher, Maile, work by throwing a lot of pitches in the dirt.

The Mariners scored runs in the first and third innings, then Hernandez cut the score in half by hitting a leadoff homer, a 440-foot blast to the second deck in centre in the fourth.