The Toronto Blue Jays visited the AL West leading Seattle Mariners to kick off their three game series and nine game road trip. Unfortunately, things didn’t get off to a great start, as the Blue Jays have now dropped to 10 games below .500 as they have fallen to a 39-49 record nearing the All Star break.
For Saturday night, a pair of veteran starters battled in what would turn out to be a pitcher’s duel. The Blue Jays sent Kevin Gausman (6-7, 4.75) to face hard throwing right hander Luis Castillo (6-9, 3.87) for the Mariners.
Gausman threw 6 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, walking two and punching out ten, taking his eighth loss of the year. Castillo on the other hand was nearly untouchable, not allowing a hit to the Blue Jays through six innings before giving up one run. On the night, Castillo threw 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits, walking two and striking out eight to take his seventh win of the year on what was his 200th career MLB start.
With both pitchers shutting down the opposing lineups for the most part, the scoring was very limited. The Mariners struck first in the bottom of the 3rd, when Luke Raley hit a two run double to give his squad a 2-0 advantage.
The Blue Jays would get one run back in the top of the 6th, when Kevin Kiermaier got on the board with a solo homer to right field, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Unfortunately, the Blue Jays’ offence would face the same problems it did in many games this season and stay quiet for the rest of the game. The Jays’ bats were only able to muster two hits, both of which came off Castillo as the Seattle bullpen dominated them for the final innings. Austin Voth, Ryne Stanek, and Andres Munoz combined for a perfect 2 1/3 innings, allowing no one to reach base and effectively shutting down the Blue Jays for a final score of 2-1.
Yariel Rodriguez (0-3, 4.63) will get the nod for Toronto while Emerson Hancock (3-3, 4.79) gets the start for Seattle as the Blue Jays will look up to even the series with a win tomorrow afternoon.
