Raleigh completes Mariners’ rally with 2nd homer of game to avoid Blue Jays’ sweep

After a flawless 15 innings of shutout relief pitching in the first five games of the homestand, the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen faltered to end the team’s six-game win streak.

“Everyone’s going to have a bad day,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “Today was missed spots and probably some pitch selection that could have been a little bit different.”

The Blue Jays enjoyed an 8-4 advantage when starter Chris Bassitt was removed from the game after five innings.

His replacement, Trevor Richards, surrendered a solo shot to Teoscar Hernandez, his seventh, in the sixth.

The Mariners pulled even with J.P. Crawford’s run-scoring single to right field in the ninth inning off Yimi Garcia.

Raleigh’s extra-inning blast to right field came off Toronto reliever Zach Pop (1-1) with one out.

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“We’ve been losing these close games, and stuff hasn’t been going our way,” Crawford said. “But it’s a full circle, and we’ll get back to how we are.”

Rocky start

Bassitt struck out the first two Mariners he faced. He then walked Jarred Kelenic and Raleigh and hit former Blue Jay Hernandez to load the bases.

Fresh off the injured list after a broken right hand he suffered in spring training, Taylor Trammell crushed his first career grand slam down the right-field line.

Bassitt was unhappy with a called ball in the Kelenic at-bat. Then, after he reviewed the pitch in the dugout on a tablet, Bassitt had a hissy fit, slamming down the device twice.

The Blue Jays righty had a prolonged discussion with home plate umpire Mark Carlson after the second inning.

“I’m not going to talk about the first,” Bassitt said. “We know what happened. It’s part of it. It is what it is.

“Umpiring is hard.”

Blue Jays battle back

Bassitt gave up a single to Kolten Wong after the Trammell grand slam and wound up walking four and striking out seven in his five innings of work.

“He was frustrated after that first,” Schneider said.

Paul Sewald (2-0) worked the ninth for the win. Reliever Matt Brash of Kingston, Ont., yielded a George Springer single for the Blue Jays’ 14th hit but recovered for his first save of the year.

Mariners starter Marco Gonzales pitched three innings. After his teammates spotted him a 4-0 lead, Gonzales allowed a two-run double from Matt Chapman in the first inning and Bo Bichette’s three-run bomb in the second.

Bichette’s sixth homer was a 460-foot shot to the second deck in left-centre field after Santiago Espinal reached base on a fielder’s choice and moved to second on Springer’s single.

The Blue Jays struck for three more in the third after an infield hit from Chapman, a one-out single to right from Alejandro Kirk and a two-out double down the left-field line from Danny Jansen.

Jansen scored on Espinal’s single to left to put Toronto ahead 8-4.