Eugenio Suarez, right, of the Seattle Mariners celebrates his home run with third base coach Manny Acta during the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at T-Mobile Park. The Mariners won 8-3 on July 7, 2022 in Seattle.Steph Chambers/Getty Images
Dylan Moore, Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suarez hit home runs as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.
The Mariners won their fifth consecutive game and improved to 13-3 over their past 16 to reach the .500 mark for the first time since May 3. The Blue Jays have lost six of their past seven games.
Mariners left-hander Marco Gonzales (5-9) allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits over 6⅔ innings for his fifth consecutive quality start. He didn’t walk or strike out a batter.
With Toronto’s scheduled starter, Kevin Gausman, still nursing a sore right foot after being hit with a comebacker Saturday against Tampa Bay, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoya opted to go with an opener, lefty Anthony Banda.
The move didn’t work as Banda (1-1) allowed two runs in just one-third of an inning.
Julio Rodriguez drew a leadoff walk and Ty France, just back from the injured list, singled to right. After J.P. Crawford grounded into a fielder’s choice, Carlos Santana lined a run-scoring single to centre, ending Banda’s night. With two outs, Raleigh grounded a run-scoring single to right off Casey Lawrence to make it 2-0.
The Blue Jays got a run back with a two-out rally in the second, despite not hitting the ball out of the infield. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled to third, and Matt Chapman was hit by a pitch. Gabriel Moreno reached on another infield single, and the run scored on third baseman Suarez’s throwing error.
Moore homered with two outs in the bottom of the inning, thanks to an assist from Gurriel. Moore’s liner was going to hit the wall in left, but Gurriel attempted to make a leaping catch, and the ball popped out of his glove and over the fence.
The Mariners scored four times in the third to make it 7-1. Suarez hit a two-run single and Raleigh followed with a two-run shot to right.
The Blue Jays scored twice with two outs in the fifth as Santiago Espinal doubled and Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had run-scoring singles.
Suarez homered in the bottom of the inning to cap the scoring.