Blue Jays (plus 150) at Seattle.
The 2-7 Mariners had lost seven straight games including a weekend sweep by the mediocre Cleveland Indians. Now the Blue Jays came to town, and Ichiro and the boys were clearly reeling and needing a victory in the baddest of ways. They had their man on the hill in reigning Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez so the potential was there.
But Hernandez was not at the top of his game and it showed in the 5-0 Toronto lead by the fourth inning. That grew to 7-0 by the sixth. The Cat was knocked out of the game after being tagged for all seven runs on 12 hits. The score was still 7-0 in the bottom of the seventh and it was pretty much game, set, match as the Mariners offense is atrocious as is the team overall. So anybody thinking comeback was just kidding themselves.
Or maybe not.
Milton Bradley belted a solo shot to cut the deficit to 7-1. The M's then scored five times in the eighth thanks in part to three bases-loaded walks by the Jays sketchy bullpen. All of a sudden this thing was 7-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Could the weak hitting M's really score again and come through for the insane comeback and rare win?
Michael Saunders led off the ninth with a double and was on third base with two outs. After Ichiro was intentionally walked, which was a semi-curious move to begin with, the outfielder stole second base, putting the winning run in scoring position. And then on the 10th pitch of the at-bat Luis Rodriguez singled in a pair in the highly improbable 8-7 Seattle victory.
Seven straight losses and down seven runs in the seventh inning for the Mariners, and the Jays lose? Wow, now that's an implosion. "O Canada!"
