Instant Reaction: Blue Jays squandered chances, fell 6-1 in extra innings to Cal Raleigh and the Seattle Mariners

The Blue Jays had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, as Justin Turner hit a single, Cavan Biggio was hit by a pitch, and Daniel Vogelbach walked. However, Ernie Clement popped up and Jorge Polanco made a terrific catch to send us to extras.

In the first pitch in extras, Cal Raleigh hit a two-run bomb to give the Mariners a 3-1 lead, which was all they needed to salvage the series. To add more insult to injury, Mitch White gave up a double and single allowing the Mariners to score four more runs, leading to a 6-1 final.

Things worth mentioning…

Yusei Kikuchi  dealt in this game, finishing with a line of 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, bringing his season ERA to 2.30. This may have been Kikuchi’s best start as a Blue Jay, and it’s awful the team lost after such a good performance.

Tim Mayza allowed his second home run of the 2023 season in his final outing after 53.1 innings pitched. In just four innings, Mayza has already given up two home runs this season and now has a season ERA of 12.46 in 4.1 innings pitched. Yikes.

Yimi García is absolute nails, finishing with a line of 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, which brings his season ERA to 1.59. You can’t say enough good things about him, especially with Jordan Romano and Erik Swanson missing.

Justin Turner continues to be one of the best Blue Jays hitters this season, finishing with two singles in four plate appearances. He now has a batting average of .342 and an OPS of 1.026. While not the big free agent signing we wanted, he has been great thus far.

The Blue Jays went 0-6 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday afternoon, not nearly good enough to win games. Year after year, this appears to be a problem and who knows if it’ll get fixed anytime soon.

Up next: The Blue Jays are off on Thursday, but return to action as they’ll host the Colorado Rockies on Friday. This season, the Rockies are 3-10 and with it being a three-game series, there should be no reason for the Jays not to be at least .500 heading into Monday.