TORONTO _ It had been a relatively quiet start to May for Kyle Seager. Traditionally in his career, April slow starts bring May mash-fests. But coming into Thursday night's series finale vs. the Blue Jays, he was hitting just .230 (7 for 30) with two doubles and a RBI in eight games.
But that may be changing.
Seager blasted a pair of homers, including a first-inning grand slam, to lead the Mariners' offensive explosion that included 17 hits and four homers in a decisive 9-3 pummeling of the Blue Jays.
Seattle improved to 21-15 and picked up its eighth series win after dropping its previous series against the Angels. The Mariners are 5-0-2 in road series this season.
The Mariners beat up on one-time teammate J.A. Happ, knocking around the veteran left-hander for seven runs on 10 hits in just 31/3 innings. Happ came into the game with a 3-2 record and 3.67 ERA while not allowing more than four runs scored in any start.
Seager plated four runs with one swing.
With two outs, Ryon Healy worked an eight-pitch walk to load the bases and bring Seager to the plate.
In this situation, you would think _ advantage Happ. While he hadn't faced many lefties this season, Happ came into the game holding lefties to a .122 batting average. And of the five hits in 41 at-bats, there were just two doubles.
And yet, Seager isn't the typical lefty that is overwhelmed by left-handed pitchers. He had two homers in his career vs. Happ and has hit 32 homers vs. left-handed pitchers the last three seasons.
After falling behind 0-2, Seager wouldn't chase a high fastball and then got a 94 mph fastball down the middle, he redirected the mistake over the wall in right-center for his fourth career grand slam.
It was a miserable first inning for Happ. He faced all nine Mariners batters and threw 37 pitches. At that point, he was just trying to give his team innings and limit damage. Neither happened.
Seattle tacked on one run each inning for the next four innings, allowing the Mariners to brush off two runs that the Blue Jays scored in the second inning on a two-run homer from Russell Martin.
In the second inning, Mitch Haniger notched his team-leading 30th RBI, plating Jean Segura with an RBI single to right.
Healy led off the third inning with his sixth homer of the season, smashing a solo blast off the facade of the upper deck in deep left-center to make it 5-2.
The Mariners loaded the bases again off Happ in the fourth inning. Robinson Cano scored the only run of the frame on sacrifice fly to left that ended Happ's night.
While the grand slam gets the notoriety, Seager's solo smash to start the fifth inning might have been more impressive. Not known to have much power to center, Seager sent a fly ball over the wall in dead-center for the multi-homer game. All that run support was plenty for Seattle starter Mike Leake. The veteran right-hander got eight ground-ball outs, struck out six and allowed just the two runs on six hits while issuing just one walk.
More importantly for Leake (4-3) and the Mariners, he worked seven complete innings. It was just the fourth time a Seattle starter has worked seven or more innings in an outing. Leake has two and James Paxton did it in his last two starts.
The Mariners' final run of the night might have been the most impressive. On a night filled with long homers, Mike Zunino's solo homer off the neon Budweiser sigh hanging off the front of third deck in deep left-center.
