SEATTLE _ Somewhat lost in the ado of whether a certain longtime ace still belongs in the Mariners' rotation is a trend that is perhaps the biggest culprit in the team's recent slide: an offense that has essentially been AWOL the past few weeks.
And so it was again Friday night. In a game that felt really big _ even in early August _ the Mariners went down meekly against Toronto rookie Ryan Borucki at Safeco Field, losing 7-2 and giving the pro Blue Jays crowd reason to celebrate.
Meanwhile, the Mariners are left to ponder their four-game losing streak and what it will take to get their offense going. In their past 22 games, Seattle has scored 63 runs (2.8 a game), and has scored more than three in just five of those games. It's no wonder Seattle is 7-15 in its past 22 games after being a season-best 24 games over .500.
Seattle starter Marco Gonzales, one of the American League's hottest pitchers since mid-May, had his worst outing in a month and a half. He allowed four runs in seven innings, with a pair of homers haunting him. Still, it was a decent outing and he finished strongly, getting eight straight outs before he was relieved.
It's hard to put much blame on Gonzales, who had won his previous five starts. Sandy Koufax in his prime would have had a tough time winning with the support the Mariners pitchers have been getting lately.
Toronto scored just two batters into the game, and you had to wonder if that might be enough the way things have been going.
It wasn't. But Russell Martin hit a solo homer to left field in the fourth inning and Devon Travis hit a two-run shot to left in the fifth, and that proved to be more than enough.
Borucki, who had yet to win in the major leagues going into his seventh start, breezed through eight innings, allowing four hits, no walks and one unearned run,
The Mariners might have been shut out had Toronto not gifted them a run in the fourth inning when Mitch Haniger got to second on a two-base error before scoring on a Kyle Seager single.
Other than that, there was not a lot going on. Seattle had back-to-back singles with one out in the sixth, but that threat ended when Nelson Cruz popped out and Seager lined out to left field.
The Mariners could get nothing started in the seventh and eighth innings, and Toronto took away all suspense by scoring three times in the ninth inning off Chasen Bradford, recalled earlier in the day from Class AAA Tacoma.
