TORONTO _ All he needed was one more out.
Just one.
But batter after batter in the fifth inning, Chase DeJong could not get that third out.
Where is the line?
This is the uneven, pitfall-filled, rocky path that manager Scott Servais and the Mariners must traverse given their current starting pitching situation.
How far can he let a starting pitcher stay in the game? When does early success become unsustainable and it's time to make a change?
Thursday night's 7-2 loss to the Blue Jays offered a glimpse into that un-simple decision that must be balanced. Before the game Servais admitted he would do things differently because the starting rotation is basically being manned by the expected starting rotation for Triple-A Tacoma.
"You may not see the game managed in the more traditional fashion," he said. "You may see guys getting pulled in the fourth inning kind of like we did last Sunday at home with (Dillon) Overton and (Christian) Bergman. Hopefully, we can get it to the point where the game is tied or we have a lead and we go to that core in our bullpen that has been very good."
Servais and the Mariners had a lead and were trying to steal just one more out, if not one more inning, from starter Chase De Jong before it all fell apart.
In his third start of the season and third big-league start of his career, De Jong had navigated through a depleted and beat-up Blue Jays lineup for 4 2/3 innings, allowing just one run while his teammates provided him two runs of support and seemed likely to give him more.
After quickly dispatching of Chris Coghlan and Luke Maile to start the fifth inning, De Jong's quest for that final out, possibly giving himself an opportunity for another inning, became Sisyphus-like in its frustration and results.
De Jong issued a two-out walk to Kevin Pillar, gave up a single to Ezequiel Carrera and walked Jose Bautista to load the bases. With each base runner, the Mariners bullpen stirred with activity. But it was just one more out _ a long fly ball, a hard ground ball, anything to a glove would've ended the inning. It was far too early to go to one of the four set-up men: James Pazos, Tony Zych, Marc Rzepczynski or Nick Vincent. Dillon Overton pitched the day before and was viewed as a possible starter Saturday. Sam Gaviglio had never pitched in a big-league game and Zac Curtis had been on the roster for about eight hours.
It was just one more out.
Servais trusted De Jong to find a way out without allowing a lot of damage. He'd done so for the first four innings. It was just one more out. De Jong couldn't reward that trust.
He hung a first-pitch curveball to former Mariner first baseman Justin Smoak, who punched it into center for a two-run single. It was a galling result for Mariners fans, who have Smoak's many failures in that situation regrettably embedded in their memory.
With the Blue Jays up 3-2, the game and the deficit were manageable, which is all Servais wants or expects from his young starters.
Just one more out and it's still workable.
With Steve Pearce coming to the plate, De Jong remained in the game. Pearce, a longtime platoon player that mashes lefties, but was forced into an everyday role, was hitting .189 on the season and was 0 for 2 in the game.
De Jong got ahead 1-2 in the count. The final out loomed. Instead, he tried to elevate a fastball. But the 92 mph pitch wasn't high enough given the hittable velocity. Pearce pounced on it, slamming a three-run homer into left to make it 6-2.
After having two outs and the bases empty, the Blue Jays had scored five runs. That final out came moments later when Ryan Goins bounced out to first. But the wait for one out, torpedoed Seattle's formula for winning.
Seattle's offense, which scored 21 runs over two games in Philadelphia, wasn't going to maintain the ridiculous production. All-Star right-hander Marco Estrada settled down after serving up a two-run homer in the first inning to Nelson Cruz. Estrada rebound with five scoreless innings to get the win. He allowed four total hits with three walks and eight strikeouts, aided by a Seattle lineup absent of Robinson Cano, who was scratched with a quad strain.
Smoak capped his big night by belting a solo homer to deep right center off Gaviglio, who was making his big-league debut. He finished 3 for 3 with four RBIs.
