2023 Game Twenty-Eight: Mariners 10, Blue Jays 8 (F/10)

 

he just really felt that last one caught the corner, is all

That this great big delightful (for a while!) mess should follow a day after the crispest of one-nothing, ten-inning affairs is so baseball; I love this for baseball. Chris Bassitt very nearly got out of the first inning with no trouble at all, but after getting fairly significantly squeezed on a 2-2 pitch with two away, his inning fell apart thusly: walk, walk, hit-by-pitch . . . oh no I think that's a grand slam okay yeah that's a grand slam (oh no). However! The Blue Jays came roaring back! RBI Matt Chapman double! Four-hundred-sixty-foot Bo Bichette three-run homer to straightaway centre (on a changeup ["I think Bo was sitting changeup right there, Dan" is how it would have played out had I been on colour commentary yesterday, but I was not so called). Before you knew it, the Blue Jays, who had been down 4-0 about as early as possible, were up 8-4, and this seemed like as merry a triumph as you're likely to see. But Trevor Richards, over the course of his two innings of relief, gave up a solo homer to the returning Téo (who was well received throughout the series, just as one would not just hope but expect, as he was a fun player and a seemingly good dude also), which is in and of itself no problem (we do not get upset about solo home runs), but Anthony Bass continued to pitch both poorly and, relatedly, briefly (he has definitely dropped to the lowest-rung of the bullpen arms, and not just because Trevor Richards has really done quite well so far), and, by the time it got to Cal Raleigh's two-run shot in the top of the tenth, it was just, like, well fine. It's hard to be bothered by a single loss in a six-game homestand, but when it's the last game of it, and one where you were up by four, and it's extra innings, and your last three batters after Espinal (who booted one earlier [cost us a run!]) struck out were Springer (single!), Bo (strikeout), and Vladdy (lazy fly ball to centre), it does rankle. It probably shouldn't! But I will admit to having been rankled.

On to Boston, and a Red Sox team that has not been great, but apparently has been scoring a lot of runs? As they play many of their games in Fenway, that might not mean all that much, I suppose. Let's find out! 

KS