Baserunning miscues cost Mariners in loss to Blue Jays

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Apr 18, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — The margins by which the Mariners find success or failure are narrow enough that something like one significant flub on the bases could end up being costly.

How about three?

The Mariners ran their way into trouble on the bases on multiple occasions on Friday night, falling to Toronto, 3-1, before a sellout of 40,263 at Rogers Centre in the opener of the weekend series with the Blue Jays.

Seattle ended up making four outs via baserunning and with a team seemingly destined to only play close games those added up to being harmful outs.

Before Friday’s game, manager Dan Wilson was asked about the value of getting an additional 90 feet when base runners can.

“Going from first and getting into scoring position is big and it doesn’t matter what era you’re playing in. Especially with our club we talked about it a lot in our approach, getting into scoring position is big and our guys have been very adept at it,” Wilson said.

But the opener against the Blue Jays reinforced the importance of minding that balance on the bases between aggressive and reckless.

Two significant mistakes took place in the fourth inning with another cropping up in the fifth. And they all allowed Toronto starter Bowden Francis the chance to wriggle free from potential trouble.

Cal Raleigh was the first baserunning hiccup when he was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double with one out in the fourth. Raleigh pulled a 107.9-mph off-speed pitch into the right-field corner but right fielder Addison Barger played the carom off the wall perfectly and easily threw out Raleigh at second.

Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch and Luke Raley followed with a shot into the same corner as Raleigh. Arozarena easily reached third, but was waved home by third base coach Kristopher Negrón. Arozarena got halfway toward the plate before realizing he may not make it and found himself in a rundown that eventually ended with a tag out to end the inning.

An inning later, Rowdy Tellez was overly aggressive trying to advance to third on Ben Williamson’s fly out to right and a perfect strike from Barger easily cut down the lumbering first baseman, ending another potential threat.

And while not a mistake, Julio Rodríguez was caught stealing trying to take second with one out in the top of the eighth on a perfect throw and tag from catcher Alejandro Kirk and shortstop Bo Bichette.

Tellez provided Seattle with its only run with his second homer of the season in the second inning.

Mariners starter Bryan Woo was knocked around at times but limited the damage to three runs over seven innings and finished with a flourish, retiring the final nine batters he faced.

At times Woo seemed to labor, especially early when the high fastball wasn’t being called in his favor. At times he cruised. Toronto’s first two runs came via leadoff singles eventually scoring on sacrifice flies in each of the first two innings.

Woo needed just five pitches to retire Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Anthony Santander and Andrés Giménez in the third inning, but he watched George Springer double on the first pitch of the fourth inning and score when Kirk punched an 0-2 slider off the plate back up the middle for an RBI single and a 3-1 Toronto lead.

Woo saw the first two batters reach to open the fifth inning, but pitched out of that jam including a key strikeout of Springer. Woo finished his outing with his fourth strikeout of the game, getting Santander to end the seventh.

Along with misjudging his attempt at stretching the single into a double, Raleigh also had a rare miscue behind the plate that led to a Toronto run.

While not as vast as say the old Oakland Coliseum, the foul territory around the dugouts at Rogers Centre is ample. Leading off the second inning, Springer fouled off an 0-2 pitch in foul territory toward the Mariners dugout up the first base line. Raleigh was the only one with a chance at getting to the foul ball, but couldn’t squeeze the attempted basket catch.

Springer eventually singled on a 2-2 pitch when Woo’s fastball tailed over the middle of the plate. A walk and a single loaded the bases and Springer scored on Will Wagner’s sacrifice fly.