M’s take 2 of 3 from Jays…finish season at even .500

The Mariners, desperate for a sweep to stay in the Wild Card race, only managed two wins over the hapless Blue Jays. All three games are pitching duels and two go into extra innings. Randy Johnson pitched the season finale and got a complete-game shutout.  --submitted by Michael Hopcroft--

GAME 1 – Blue Jays 4, Mariners 3 (13 inn)

This 13 inning marathon just might have been the undoing of Seattle’s chances to secure a wild card slot.  The M’s showed great resolve by scoring 2 in the bottom of the 9th to tie it up.  Josh Towers was brilliant for Toronto, as he took a shutout into the 9th.  Seattle trotted out 6 different pitchers in hopes of holding the Jays down.  Batista was given a 2 run lead to protect (thanks to a Frank Catalanotto 2 run homer) in the bottom of the 13 and immediately got in trouble when Jay Buhner singled to lead off the inning and Tino Martinez doubled.  Brett Boone hit a deep shot to the warning track to score Buhner, but Valle flew out to left to end the game and quite possibly the playoff hopes of the Emerald city.

GAME 2 – Mariners 2, Blue Jays 1 (10 inn)

The second consecutive extra inning contest went in favor of the  M’s.  Kudos to Fleming for going toe to toe with the great Roy Halladay.  Both hurlers were gone by the 7th and neither figured into the decision.  The M’s won it in the bottom of the 10th when Ken Griffey Jr. led off with a walk and advanced to second on a passed ball thrown by Toronto reliever Speier.  Mike Blowers followed that up by lining a single to center to score Junior.

GAME 3 – Mariners 1, Blue Jays 0

With no score heading into the 9th it looked like there would be extra innings for a 3rd consecutive day.  The Big Unit, Randy Johnson (5-2, 1.19), was completely dominant fanning 8, walking 1 and allowing only 4 hits.  Ted Lilly was in and out of trouble, but still managed to throw 5+ scoreless frames.  Chacin came on in the middle of the 5th and was fine until the 9th, when Litton walked with 1 out.  Edgar Martinez, the human hitting machine, followed that up with a double off the wall to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Omar Vizquel was given and intentional pass to load the bases and increase the chances of an inning ending double play or at least a force at every base.  Ken  Griffey Jr. stepped up and grounded to Orlando Hudson at second.  Hudson double clutched then tossed the ball to McDonald at short who jumped out of the way of the hard sliding Vizquel, which caused the throw to first to bounce in the dirt.  Shea Hillenbrand dug the ball out, but the split second that it took him to do so allowed Junior to cross first successfully with Litton scoring easy.  The bottom of the 9th was a breeze for the Big Unit as he fanned Reed Johnson and got Vernon Wells and Hillenbrand to pop up weakly.