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TORONTO: A.J. Burnett allowed three
runs and four hits in seven innings and Matt
Stairs homered in his third straight game Sunday
as the Toronto Blue Jays handed the slumping
Seattle Mariners their ninth straight defeat.
Burnett led the
Blue Jays to a 6-4 victory to complete a
three-game sweep.
The Mariners,
enduring their longest losing streak since an
11-game skid from August 10 to 20 of last season,
remained two games behind the New York Yankees in
the American League wild card race.
The Yankees
fell 8-2 to Tampa Bay at home on Sunday, and host
the Mariners in a three-game series at Yankee
Stadium starting on Monday.
The Blue Jays
moved a season-high four games over .500 and
closed within 5 1/2 games of the Yankees in the
wild card chase.
Pitching as
well as he has all season, Burnett overpowered the
Mariners early, retiring the first 10 batters.
Five of the first six outs were on strikeouts. He
walked one and struck out seven.
“They were
making me work early even though I had the
strikeouts,” Burnett said. “We were making the
plays on defense, so I just tried to take a little
bit off and let them play a little bit.” |
