France HRs, Gonzales solid as Mariners top Jays, avoid sweep
TORONTO (AP) — Ty France hit a two-run homer, Marco Gonzales pitched six solid innings to snap a five-start winless streak and the Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 on Wednesday night to avoid a three-game sweep.
Cal Raleigh and Abraham Toro each hit solo home runs and Jesse Winker added a sacrifice fly for the Mariners, who bounced back with 10 hits after being blanked for the sixth time this season in Tuesday’s 3-0 loss.
France went 3 for 5 with two singles, in addition to his home run. Adam Frazier also had three hits for Seattle.
Gonzales (2-4) allowed one run and five hits, walked three and struck out two to win for the first time since April 15 against Houston. Andrés Muñoz worked the seventh, Paul Sewald pitched the eighth and Diego Castillo finished.
Toronto still has not swept a series this season. The Blue Jays have won the first two games of a series twice, doing so against Texas on April 8 and 9, and in Houston on April 22 and 23.
Seattle got four hits, all singles, in the first inning, but the only run came on Winker’s sacrifice fly.
Toronto tied it when Gonzales issued a bases-loaded walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with two outs in the third. Teoscar Hernández followed by grounding out.
Raleigh broke the 1-all tie by leading off the fifth with a home run, his third.
The homer was the first allowed by Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman this season, snapping a 57-inning streak dating to last season. Colorado’s C.J. Cron was the last batter to homer off Gausman, doing so last Sept. 26 at Coors Field.
Gausman (3-3) allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings, losing consecutive starts for the first time this season. He walked one and struck out three.
Frazier hit a two-out single off Trevor Richards in the seventh and France followed with a first-pitch homer, his sixth.
Toro connected off Ross Stripling in the ninth, his fifth.
CANADIAN RAKIN’
Toro is the third Canadian-born Seattle player to hit a home run in Toronto. He joins Michael Saunders (2010, ‘12, and ’13) and Jason Bay (2013).
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: 1B Evan White (sports hernia) went 0 for 2 in his first rehab game at Triple-A Tacoma.
Blue Jays: OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. left after five innings because of a sore left hamstring. He was replaced by Raimel Tapia.
UP NEXT
Mariners: RHP George Kirby (0-0, 0.90) starts Thursday as Seattle wraps up its road trip with a four-game series at Boston. LHP Rich Hill (1-1, 2.89) starts for the Red Sox.
Blue Jays: LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (0-0, 9.00) starts Friday in the opener of a three-game interleague series against Cincinnati. RHP Luis Castillo (0-1, 5.59) goes for the Reds.
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