Slam dunks Blue Jays
Mariners 7 Blue Jays 5 Mariners’ Sexson tattoos struggling Batista in ninth Hustling Rios snaps out of slump with triple, homer
At least the Blue Jays managed to get their Alex Rios problems all straightened out. No one had to tell Rios to hustle out of the box last night when he tripled in his first at- bat and then even turned up the jets when jogging around the bases on an ensuing solo homer. But an even bigger problem for the Jays than Rios, benched last Friday for a lack of hustle, was the guy who ran in from the bullpen to protect a one-run lead in the ninth inning. Jays closer Miguel Batista proceeded to punctuate his second-half meltdown by loading the bases with one out and serving up a grand slam to Richie Sexson of the Seattle Mariners. The Jays went on to lose, 7- 5, in front of a paltry Rogers Centre crowd, generously announced at 18,762, that unloaded on Batista as he trudged from the mound after Sexson’s firstpitch bomb to right- centre. Toronto scored a run after loading the bases with one out in the ninth, but M’s closer Eddie Guardado got Reed Johnson to ground out to end it.
It was a stunning defeat for a Jays squad that fell to 73- 75 and is now in serious danger of finishing with fewer than 80 wins after spending much of the year above .500. The latest torch job by Batista, who has blown four saves since late August, also ruined the fine job Rios had done of positioning his team to win a game the last-place Mariners seemed to want no part of.
“I don’t worry about those guys, they’ve been showing up all year long,’’ Jays manager John Gibbons said before the game when asked whether his team could keep up its intensity after a hard- fought weekend series with the Yankees. “ I haven’t seen us tank it yet all year. You play 162 games. You play them all. You play to win. And the last few games can go a long way to ( helping) personal stats.’’
Padding stats has become an annual tradition at this time of year for the Jays. But it was about more than that for Rios, who lined a third- inning pitch to left- centre that Mariners left fielder Raul Ibanez took his time getting to and made a poorly timed dive for. The ball went by Ibanez to the wall and a hustling Rios didn’t stop until pulling into third base with a triple.
He’d wind up scoring when the next batter, seldom- used catcher Ken Huckaby, drilled a shot off the wall in left on which Ibanez once again looked lost. Huckaby pulled into second with an RBI double on the second of five straight hits given up by Mariners lefty Jamie Moyer. By the time Reed Johnson, Aaron Hill and Vernon Wells had followed with singles, the Jays had a 3- 0 lead. Seattle got a pair back in the fourth when Jose Lopez cranked a Scott Downs pitch into the left- field bullpen with a runner aboard. Downs would last only five innings and was fortunate to have a 4- 3 lead by that point.
Rios got the Jays another run in the bottom of the fourth when he smacked a 2- 1 pitch from Moyer over the fence in left- centre. But Downs gave the run right back to the M’s when Yuniesky Betancourt tripled to right-centre in the fifth and scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Sexson.
Leading 4- 3 in the ninth, the Jays called on Batista, who issued a leadoff single to pinchhitter Greg Dobbs, then saw speedy Ichiro Suzuki bunt for a hit. Both runners were bunted over and Raul Ibanez was walked intentionally before Sexson pounded Batista’s first pitch for his 38th homer.
Gibbons was careful before the game not to heap too much more criticism in the direction of Rios, who is hardly the biggest problem on this team.
“ He’s improved on last year,’’ Gibbons said of a player who’d been in an 0- for- 16 slump before his triple. “ Each year, you have to improve. That’s all you can ask.’’