SEATTLE — J.A. Happ doesn’t believe the Toronto Blue Jays are putting an excessive amount of importance on an August series.
He is willing to give some credit to the new co-leaders in the race for the second wild card in the American League.
“It’s just they are doing the things we’re not right now, and we need to turn it around,” Happ said.
Kyle Seager and Kendrys Morales hit solo home runs, Dustin Ackley added a key two-out two-run single, and the Seattle Mariners moved into a tie for the second wild card spot in the American League with a 6-3 win over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.
Seattle won for the seventh time in eight games to catch Detroit in the wild card race. Seattle got another solid performance from veteran Chris Young, who earned his 11th victory, and the Mariners also continued their recent offensive punch.
Toronto dropped the first two games of the series and was sloppy in doing so. The Blue Jays committed two errors, including a simple fielding miscue by reliever Aaron Loup in the eighth that gave Seattle an insurance run.
Happ (8-7) gave up seven hits and struck out only one in six innings after recording 12 strikeouts in his last start.
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Seager's 18th homer gave Seattle a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Ackley followed an inning later, going to the opposite field to drive in a pair. Morales capped the night with his first homer since being acquired by the Mariners in a trade with Minnesota in late July.
It was Morales's first homer since June 24, snapping a career-high, 41-game drought without a long ball.
Ackley's hit was the one that stuck with Toronto starter J.A. Happ.
"It was a fastball away on the corner. He just reached out and dropped it in there," Happ said. "There is not much you can do about that."
Young (11-6) pitched six strong innings, allowing just two hits. He yielded a first-inning run after walking Jose Reyes on four pitches and giving up Melky Cabrera's RBI double to start the game. Young retired 14 straight after Cabrera's double, the streak snapped when Juan Francisco doubled in the fifth.
Young struck out three and walked two, and won his third straight decision.
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Charlie Furbush got four outs with ease but Brandon Maurer gave up three hits in the eighth, capped by Jose Bautista's RBI double. Toronto added another run on Nolan Reimold's sacrifice fly, but Francisco Rodney pitched the ninth for his 33rd save.
Logan Morrison extended his hitting streak to 13 games, with a single in the third, and scored on Austin Jackson's hit-and-run single that Colby Rasmus misplayed in centre field. Morrison doubled in the fifth, but was caught in a rundown between third and home on Jackson's grounder. Morrison stayed in the rundown long enough for Chris Taylor and Jackson to get into scoring position, and Ackley plated both with a single to left field.
