SEATTLE — Franklin Gutierrez homered with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning Sunday to give Seattle a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, a game the Mariners kept close with the aid of a triple play.
Gutierrez jumped on an 0-2 pitch from Aaron Loup (2-5) and drove it over the wall in left-center for his third homer.
Nelson Cruz brought the Mariners even at 5-5 in the seventh with his 25th home run, a two-run shot to left off Bo Schultz.
Joe Beimel (2-1), who struck out one in one relief inning, picked up the win for the Mariners.
With Toronto leading 4-3, the Mariners turned a triple play in the fourth inning. Ezequiel Carrera drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on Kevin Pillar’s single. Ryan Goings bounced out to first and Pillar was hung up between first and second, and Carrera stuck between third and home. Both runners ended up at third base and each was tagged out by catcher Mike Zunino.
Carrera and Josh Donaldson each had a solo homer for the Blue Jays, while Austin Jackson hit a solo shot for the Mariners.
The Blue Jays pieced together three runs in the second for a 4-1 lead. Justin Smoak hit a leadoff single and Russell Martin doubled into the left-field corner. Smoak came home and Martin moved to third on a balk by Mariners starter Taijuan Walker. Carrera bounced an RBI single up the middle to make it 3-1. Pillar then reached on an error when his routine grounder went under the glove of second baseman Chris Taylor.
With two outs, Jose Reyes drew just the second walk issued by Walker since June 15 to load the bases and Donaldson followed with a sacrifice fly.
Seattle cut the lead to 4-3 in the third, but managed just two runs despite five hits and a walk.
Brad Miller and Zunino opened the inning with consecutive singles. Jackson followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2. After Kyle Seager bounced into a 3-6-1 double play, Cruz singled home Zunino. Robinson Cano singled off the bag at third and Gutierrez walked to load the bases, but Mark Trumbo struck out to end the inning.
Carrera opened the seventh with his third home run to extend the lead to 5-3.
Donaldson staked Toronto to a 1-0 lead in the first, ripping a 2-1 pitch over the left-field wall for his 24th home run. Jackson countered for the Mariners, leading off the bottom half with his fifth homer.
Blue Jays starter Mark Buehrle, who had not allowed more than two earned runs in his previous nine starts, was tagged for three runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. Buehrle also walked Gutierrez with two outs in the third inning, his first walk since June 26 vs. Texas. He had faced 127 consecutive batters without issuing a walk.
UP NEXT
Mike Montgomery (4-4, 3.25 ERA) will start Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, as he looks to regain the form that resulted in 20 consecutive scoreless innings, including back-to-back shutouts in June. He is 0-2 in his last three starts. In his last start, Montgomery lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing eight runs — six earned — on six hits with five walks in a 9-4 loss at Detroit.
