Michael Saunders Propels Ms Into Big Win
The Headline: hot off a sweep of the Tigers in Detroit, the Seattle Mariners bring the fire into Toronto to win this 10-inning thriller.
Seattle Mariners 9, Toronto Blue Jays 5
When: 7:07 ET, Friday, April 27, 2012
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto
Temperature: 68 degrees
Umpires: Home — Greg Gibson, 1B — Manny Gonzalez, 2B — Victor Carapazza, 3B — Gerry Davis
Attendance: 24,303
Love ‘em
1. Michael Saunders
Here is a kid who fell out of prospect status and is now making a name for himself.
Michael Saunders stole the show tonight, going 2-4 with 3 runs scored and 5 RBI. Those two hits came in the 9th and 10th inning, each a home run. His bomb in the 9th locked up the tie, with his 10th inning grand salami representing the go ahead runs.
Saunders is now hitting .254 on the season, with 3 home runs, 11 RBI and 3 stolen bases.
2. Flashing Some Power
The best way to win against the Jays is to beat them at their own game, and Seattle certainly did that tonight.
The Mariners launched three home runs in tonight’s game. Two of them were the aformentioned bombs by Michael Saunders. The third came in the 7th off of the bat of the RBI machine Jesus Montero.
On top of the home runs, Dustin Ackley and Casper Wells each had doubles.
3. The Win
Despite the back-and-forth affair, the longer this game went on the more it seemed out of the Mariners hands.
But, they did something they haven’t done for a lot of the season and blew up in the late innings. Seattle put up 8 runs after the 6th inning, and managed to guarantee the win in extras.
Michael Saunders launched an extra innings Grand Slam to win it (Photo by Abelimages/Getty Images)
Hate ‘em
1. Eric Wedge
Eric Wedge had a string of questionable calls tonight, and each one put the game at risk.
As has been the case all season, when Wedge called for a hitter to be intentionally walked it seemed very questionable.
The bullpen management was rough to watch. Six different relievers were used tonight, with only two pitching full innings. Wedge turned to Brandon League in the 9th, despite it representing back-to-back games pitched and it wasn’t even a save situation.
2. Tom Wilhelmsen
In his last four games, Tom Wilhelmsen has seen his ERA raise from 0.90 to 3.14. The Mariners setup man has given up 9 hits in that time.
Things were especially tough tonight, as his 2 earned runs in the 8th gave Toronto their window back into this game.
3. Rough Night for Fundamentals
The Mariners captured a solid win tonight, but that doesn’t mean they played a great game.
Starter Blake Beavan suffered from a high pitch count — only getting through 5.2 innings — while the bullpen was up-and-down all night. On the diamond, the Mariners stole none — with one player caught stealing — and had two errors. They also saw 10-men left on base tonight.
Here’s the BOXSCORE | and Our Managing Editor “Q” has his RECAP
NoteBook
Tonight’s Grand Slam by Michael Saunders is the first of his career.
Listen to the audio of Michael Saunders’ grand slam in the 10th. Mariners radio man Rick Rizzs let out a “”Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it is grand salami time!”"
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