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Mariners light up R.A. Dickey as Blue Jays lose second straight

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TORONTO

R.A. Dickey had another tough day on Saturday.

The Blue Jays’ veteran knuckleballer served up a grand slam to Nelson Cruz in the third inning and was yanked in the fourth as the Seattle Mariners posted a 14-5 blowout win at the Rogers Centre.

Kevin Pillar scored on a sacrifice fly by Josh Thole in the second to give Toronto the early lead. But that’s when Dickey’s troubles began.

In the third, Shawn O’Malley singled on what was effectively a swinging bunt down the third-base line. After Norichika Aoki got on base on a fielder’s choice, Dickey hit both Seth Smith and Robinson Cano to load the bases. He got ahead on Cruz, but the Mariners DH slammed a 1-2 offering into the covered first-deck seats in centre field to give Seattle a 4-1 lead.

“It was a tough one to control today,” Dickey, who allowed six runs on seven hits, said of his knuckler. “I hit two guys with it today. I didn’t give us much of a chance.

“Sometimes, when it doesn’t spin and the wind gets it the right way, it takes off on you. Sometimes, you’re at the mercy of the pitch. It’s going to do what it’s going to do.”

As for the home-run shot, Dickey credited Cruz for staying with what he thought was a good pitch.

In the next inning, Leonys Martin got on with a sharp liner that went off the glove of Troy Tulowitzki. Chris Iannetta then walked and O’Malley singled to the third-base side, beating out the long throw to first from Josh Donaldson, once again leaving Dickey in a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam.

Aoki’s next shot also went off the glove of Tulowitzki, scoring Martin and sending Dickey to an early shower and his 11th loss of the season.

“They’ve got a pretty good hitting team over there,” manager John Gibbons said. “What killed him was hitting those two guys then giving up the grand slam.”

Franklin Morales, fresh off the disabled list, got his first test immediately and, after forcing a double play which Iannetta scored on, he was able to get Cano to pop out to end the inning.

While this was going on, Mariners starter Hishashi Iwakuma, just as teammate James Paxton did on Friday night, gave the Jays offence little to work with, getting Edwin Encarnacion to strike out with two men on in the fifth when the score was still close.

After Morales, Jesse Chavez came on in the sixth and immediately got into trouble. Iannetta doubled to the gap in left-centre. Donaldson was then unable to throw out O’Malley on a bunt attempt, moving Iannetta to third. Aoki singled down the right-field line to score Iannetta, Smith singled to score O’Malley, and Cano loaded the bases with another single. Aoki scored when Cruz hit into a double play. Kyle Seager ended Chavez’s fiasco with a three-run home run over the centre-field fence, giving Seattle an 11-1 lead and many among the 47,517 in attendance an excuse to find some air conditioning elsewhere. Bo Schultz ended the inning.

Michael Saunders hit a solo home run to lead off the Jays’ sixth but Iwakuma can be happy with giving up two runs on four hits over six innings and improving his record to 11-6 on the season.

With Drew Storen pitching in the eighth, Smith walked and Cano doubled down the right-field line. Cruz then hit his second home run of the game over the left-field porch, emptying the Rogers Centre even further. Cruz now has 58 RBIs on the year.

Those who stayed got some nice parting gifts. In the eighth, Saunders hit his second solo shot over the left-field fence off Wade LeBlanc. Then Justin Smoak went deep, scoring Tulowitzki ahead of him.

“It was one of those days,” Gibbons said. “They have a pretty good team over there.”

SAUNDERS THE GARBAGE MAN

They may have been garbage-time solo shots, but the wonderful ride of Michael Saunders continued on Saturday.

His sixth and eighth-inning solo blasts gave the Victoria, B.C. native three home runs in two games against his former team this weekend. He produced Toronto’s only run in Friday’s 2-1 loss to Seattle.

The Blue Jays’ outfielder now has 19 on the season, tying his career high set in 2012, his fourth of the six seasons he spent with the Mariners. He has also reached his second-best season in RBIs (46) and his third-best in hits (94). And that’s with over two months left in the season.

“He’s having a tremendous year,” manager John Gibbons said. “He loves to run the ball down that opposite-field gap.

“It’s a good sign for us.”

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