Dylan Moore finally gave the Mariners a lead that their pitching staff could hold and the Blue Jays couldn’t overcome.
Moore blasted a three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning and reliever Drew Steckenrider benefited from the cushion, allowing only one run in the bottom of the 10th before registering the final out of Seattle’s 9-7 victory over Toronto in a game played in Buffalo, N.Y.
With the victory, the Mariners improved to 9-1 in extra-inning games this season.
Seattle improved to 42-39 and have a chance to wrap up the six-game road trip and win the three-game series with the Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon.
The Mariners got another uneven start from lefty Justus Sheffield in a season with far too many of them.
Sheffield needed 95 pitches to get through four largely inefficient innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts. It was the fourth consecutive start where he failed to pitch past the fifth inning.
And really, it was still an improvement compared to his last few outings. He threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of the 21 batters he faced and allowed multiple baserunners in each of his four innings of work, which speaks to how much he had struggled coming into the game.
In sign of things to come, Sheffield walked the first batter he faced — Marcus Semien — on his first four pitches and then gave up a first-pitch single to Bo Bichette. But a three-pitch strikeout of Vlad Guerrero Jr. and a double play ended the inning.
Sheffield gave up his first run when he loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and a walk but limited the damage to just one run on a sac fly.
Down 1-0, the Mariners scored four runs in the third inning against Toronto starter Stephen Matz. Taylor Trammell scored Dylan Moore from first base with a double off the wall in left field. J.P. Crawford then dropped a single down the third-base line for a single and the throw to first base from Cavan Biggio wasn’t catchable, allowing Trammell to score.
Later with two outs, Kyle Seager ended a 14-game home run drought by launching a rare opposite-field blast over the wall in left. The two-run shot was his 77th career homer against a left-handed pitcher in his career.
Given a three-run lead, Sheffield gave it back over the next two innings. He allowed the first hitters to reach base in the third inning. And with two outs, Randall Grichuk yanked a two-run double down the left-field line on a misplaced change-up.
Sheffield allowed back-to-back doubles in the fourth inning to Riley Adams and Semien that tied the game at 4. The Blue Jays seemed poised to add more, but Sheffield got Bichette to ground and then struck out Guerrero swinging despite falling behind 3-0.
Over his last four outings, he’s pitched a total of 17 1/3 innings, allowing 18 earned runs on 22 hits for a 9.35 ERA with nine walks and 15 strikeouts.
The game didn’t remain tied for long.
J.P. Crawford led off the top of the fifth inning with a double and then celebrated on second as Mitch Haniger crushed his 18th homer of the season to deep left-center
The Mariners bullpen couldn’t hold the two-run lead. J.T. Chargois gave up a run in the bottom of the fifth and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tied the game in the eighth inning with a towering blast to left off of lefty Anthony Misiewicz that tied the game at 6-6.
