Mariners power bats take care of the Blue Jay

Well yesterday I said that Hisashi Iwakuma was going to be scratched for today's game because of the blister on his finger, but he decided that his team needed him today. Well, Michael Saunders decided to give Iwakuma some help, on the second pitch of the game Saunders took former Mariner and reigning NL Cy Young R.A. Dickey deep and the Mariners took the lead 1-0. Iwakuma loaded the bases in the bottom half of the first inning but got out of the inning by striking out Colby Rasmus and Rajai Davis to end the inning and the threat. In the top of the fourth the Mariners struck again in a big way. Kendrys Morales got on with a single and then both Raul Ibanez and Kelly Shoppach walked to load the bases for Dustin Ackley. Ackley saw nothing but knuckleballs in his at bat and on the final knuckleball that Dickey threw Ackley made him pay by hitting his first major league grand slam of his career and giving the Mariners the 5-0 lead.

The top of the fifth saw Michael Saunders take R.A. Dickey deep for the second time today and for his fourth homerun of the season and the lead was now 6-0 Mariners. The very next inning the Mariners got another run after Raul Ibanez tripled with 1 out and then Kelly Shoppach drove him in with a double to left and the lead now was 7-0. The Blue Jays finally got on the board after Munenori Kawasaki drove in Rajai Davis with a sacrifice fly. The Mariners weren't done as in the top of the ninth inning he drove in his third run with a double to center field scoring Robert Andino. Oliver Perez came into the game to close out things for the M's and secure Iwakuma his third win of the year. The Jays got the first two runners on base after Rasmus walked and Davis singled, but after that Perez got the next two batters to ground out and then the final batter lined one to Ackley who made a Web Gem like play to end the ball game.

The Mariners improved now to 15-17 and have won 7 of their last 9 games! The hitting has what has helped the Mariners on this impressive streak of wins as they have had at least 7 or more hits in those wins. Joe Saunders will take the mound tomorrow afternoon against another former Mariner Brandon Morrow for the sweep. After tomorrow's game the M's will take Monday off and on Tuesday they will begin Interleague play as they will play the Pittsburgh Pirates.

NOTES: With his performance today Iwakuma is now is sixth in the American League in ERA with a 1.61 just 1 point above his teammate Felix but is still the AL leader in WHIP with a 0.69. With a run today in the bottom of the seventh inning the Blue Jays ended a 23 consecutive inning streak of not scoring a run. Saunders put his average to an even .300 after today's hitting performance.