Lind homers twice as Blue Jays rally to down Mariners 5-4 in 10 innings

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Lind homers twice as Blue Jays rally to down Mariners 5-4 in 10 innings



Sat Sep 26, 6:49 PM

By The Canadian Press


TORONTO - Just before Adam Lind trotted into the throng of teammates waiting for him at home plate after his game-winning home run, he flipped off his helmet.

Then he was mobbed.

Lind tied the game in the eighth inning with a two-run homer then won it in the 10th with his 32nd longball of the year as the Toronto Blue Jays rallied Saturday to take a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners before a crowd of 29,783 at the Rogers Centre.

Lind said he flipped the helmet off for a good reason - he did not want a headache.

"I just threw my helmet so they wouldn't hit me on the head," said Lind.

"I had a walkoff hit earlier in the year and I left my helmet on and I had a headache for the rest of the day. I thought I'd take my helmet off and now, I've got a broken rib."

The game-ending homer came on a 3-1 pitch from Shawn Kelley (5-4) and made a winner of Jason Frasor (7-3) who pitched two innings.

It was a low drive over the left-field wall and Michael Saunders of Victoria, B.C., who went into the game in left field after Ichiro Suzuki was ejected in the fifth inning, couldn't get high enough to make the grab.

"We haven't had too many of those this year, (Lind) had a great day out there," said Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston.

Jose Bautista hit his eighth homer of the year for Toronto in the sixth. He also made a fine catch that shook him up a little when he went crashing into the wall in the second inning on Jack Hannahan's drive.

The Mariners played from the fifth inning in without star right-fielder Ichiro, who was ejected for the first time in his career either in Japan or the majors after drawing a line with his bat in the batter's box to the left of the plate to indicate the called third strike was outside.

Home plate umpire Brian Runge ejected him after a brief, heated exchange.

"I wish I had had a little more time," Ichiro said, indicating he thought the ejection came quickly.

"Even his manager said 'I can't take up for him when they draw a line like that.' It's kind of a cut and dried thing," said umpires' crew chief Jerry Layne. "You can't argue balls and strikes. When you do, you're on the thin ice, so to speak."

The Mariners wasted a good start from Ian Snell who allowed five hits, two runs, one earned, two walks and struck out seven.

"It's a shame to squander an outing like that. I thought that was the best game I've seen him pitch," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Mark Lowe took over from him in the seventh with two on and two out, got the final out, and then gave up Lind's two-run homer in the eighth to tie the game.

The Mariners lamented numerous missed chances on a day in which they had 13 hits and stranded 10 and twice grounded into inning-ending double plays.

Lind's two-run homer took Toronto starter David Purcey off the hook. He allowed nine hits, three runs, two walks and struck out four in 5 1/3 innings.

"It really shouldn't have been that close," said Wakamatsu. "I thought we swung the bats good but you've got to be able to bring them in and you've got to be able to capitalize and put teams away. We didn't do that today."

Franklin Gutierrez led off the fourth with a double and scored on Mike Sweeney's one-out single to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.

The Mariners added to the lead in the fifth when Matt Tuiasosopo singled and Adam Moore doubled. Josh Wilson sacrificed Moore to third and Ichiro was called out on strikes and ejected. Purcey's wild pitch with Gutierrez at the plate scored Moore.

The Blue Jays came back with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth. Lyle Overbay led off with a double and Snell's error on the throw from the outfield - he lost it in the lights - allowed him to reach third. Overbay scored on Travis Snider's ground out to second.

Snell said that other players were having trouble losing the ball in the lights.

"I was either going to get hit in the face, get a busted nose or . . . move out of the way," said Snell. "The first thing I did was move."

The Mariners scored in the seventh on Hall's sacrifice fly after Casey Janssen allowed three one-out singles.

Notes: In shutting out the Mariners 5-0 on Friday, Roy Halladay's stuff was moving so much three Mariners fouled pitches off their shins or feet: Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre and Franklin Gutierrez. Only Beltran was not able to play Saturday because of the knocks. Ichiro's shin swelled up and he came out of Friday's game in the eighth. Wakamatsu said he should be able to play Sunday in the series finale. . . The Blue Jays end their home schedule Sunday with Brian Tallet (7-9, 5.39 earned-run average) facing Seattle's Ryan Rowland-Smith (4-3, 3.70 ERA). The Blue Jays end their season with three-game series in Boston and Baltimore.