Happ gets 20th win, Blue Jays take over 1st AL wild-card spot

SEATTLE – J.A. Happ had a long wait between innings, and it was totally worth it for him and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Happ became the major leagues’ second 20-game winner and Russell Martin and Michael Saunders each hit a two-run homer, lifting Toronto over the Seattle Mariners 10-2 on Tuesday night to move into first in the AL wild-card race.

Toronto moved a game ahead of Baltimore and remained 2 1/2 games ahead of Detroit. Seattle lost for the fourth time in five games and trails Toronto by four games.

Happ was the patient beneficiary when the Jays took the lead with an eight-run fourth inning.

“I actually came back up in the tunnel here and threw a little bit with Josh Thole trying to keep my arm loose,” Happ said. “But, when we’re scoring eight an inning, or six an inning, not sure which one it was, but I’ll definitely take that any day.”

Happ (20-4) allowed two runs, six hits and a walk over five innings, striking out eight while winning for the 14th time in his last 15 decisions. He’s the first Toronto pitcher to reach 20 wins since Roy Halladay in 2008.

“Twenty wins. It’s hard to do at the big league level, the best baseball in the world,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He’s had some kind of season. He’s going to keep going strong, but it’s quite an accomplishment.”

Martin and Saunders each homered off Hisashi Iwakuma (16-12) during the Blue Jays’ big inning. After catcher Chris Iannetta misplayed Jose Bautista’s pop foul for an error, Bautista singled with one out and Martin followed with his 20th home run. Troy Tulowitzki singled and Saunders followed with his 24th homer to put Toronto up 4-2.

Kevin Pillar doubled and Ezequiel Carrera chased Iwakuma with an RBI single. Devon Travis greeted reliever Nick Vincent with a bloop single down the right-field line, scoring Carrera from first to make it 6-2. Josh Donaldson walked and Edwin Encarnacion capped the inning with a two-run double.

Donaldson opened the sixth with his 35th homer and Encarnacion added an eighth-inning solo homer, his 42nd, for the final two runs.

“We scratched out a couple runs, get a big hit and finally get a lead, started getting some momentum our way,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Unfortunately, the shutdown inning was nonexistent. It got away from us there, some bad pitches, they hit some home runs and got some other hits to fall in for them. They were around the ball all night. We couldn’t get them off it.”

Martin and Saunders became the first Canadian-born teammates in major league history to hit at least 20 home runs in the same season.

“I think Russ and I will tell you that we’re probably more proud than others,” Saunders said. “I don’t think it means a lot to anybody else. But Russ lately has just been on fire, really turned his season around. We’ve leaned on him for the second half of the season.”

The Mariners took a 2-0 lead in the third when Robinson Cano lined a two-run triple off the knee of second baseman Travis that caromed all the way into the right-field corner.

“That one inning, they put a couple on the board, some tough plays,” Gibbons said. “But what he (Happ) did, he held them in check, limited it to two and then our offence took over, which was good to see. We haven’t seen one of those in a while. The first two games here, we played really, really well.”

EXCLUSIVE COMPANY FOR HAPP

Happ became the sixth Blue Jay with 20 wins, joining Halladay, Roger Clemens, Jack Morris, Pat Hentgen and David Wells. The total ties him with Wells in 2000 for the most victories by a Toronto left-hander.

TRAINING ROOM

Mariners: RHP Taijuan Walker had no issues after taking a line drive off his pitching arm in the first inning on Monday night. “He feels fine. There’s nothing there,” manager Scott Servais said.

MARINERS AFFILIATE MOVES

Seattle will have two new minor league affiliates in 2017. The Mariners announced a two-year agreement with the Arkansas Travelers in the Double-A Texas League and a four-year deal with the Modesto Nuts in the Class A California League. Arkansas replaces Jackson, which won the Southern League title. Modesto replaces Bakersfield, which was contracted from the California League.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez (13-2, 3.17 ERA) gets the start in the afternoon series finale at Safeco Field. Sanchez is 2-1 with a 4.65 ERA and four no decisions in his last seven starts. He lasted just 3 2/3 innings in his last start, giving up six runs on five hits.

Mariners: RHP Felix Hernandez (11-6, 3.79) allowed six runs — five earned — and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings in his last start, a 6-0 loss vs. Houston. He is 7-2 in 12 starts since coming off the DL (right calf strain) on July 20.

Robinson Cano: No More Home Run Derby For Me

It is hard to watch a former champion struggle at his craft. For Robinson Cano fans, watching the 2011 Home Run Derby champion fade away in the first round of this year's competition was frustrating. Cano, the No. 4 seed, was blasted 24-7 in his head-to-head matchup with eventual champion Giancarlo Stanton.

When Cano won in 2011, the Home Run Derby featured a three-round, ten outs-per-round format. Cano's 2016 campaign was his fourth Derby appearance (2011-2013, 2016), but first in the new timed format. Cano, known for his nonchalance, had the lowest total of any player in any round in the two years of the new rules.

"It is more difficult," he says. "You got a time now. You got to swing. You've got to hit the most you can because you know the guy behind you, the guy in front of you, are going to get the same amount of minutes."

Cano is 33 and still among the best players in the game. His .304 average, 22 home runs, 23 doubles and 66 runs all rank in the top 11 in the American League.

But his Home Run Derby prime may be exhausted. And Cano wants to put that side of his career to bed.

"No, I'm not going back again," Cano says when asked about how he will improve for future years. "I just [did] this year because of my son. I'm not doing it again."

Cano's son, also named Robinson, lives in the Dominican Republic, but he was in the United States for this year's All-Star Game, accompanying Robinson and Robinson's father, Jose, a former MLB player known for his pitching to Cano and other players in the Home Run Derby.

"That's one of the reasons I want to do it, too," Cano told The Seattle Times on July 7. "It will be my dad, myself and my son. So us three there is something that’s going to be pretty special."

During that interview, the Mariner also said of the Home Run Derby, "I want to go back." A few weeks later, his opinion has reversed.

Cano spoke to ThePostGame at the Roc Nation Summer Classic Charity Basketball Tournament. His RC22 Foundation was a beneficiary of the event, along with CC Sabathia's PitCCh In Foundation, Miguel Cotto's Fundacion El Angel and Nick Jonas' Beyond Type 1.

Mariners' Robinson Cano: Hits first home run since opening weekend

Robinson Cano went 1-for-4 with his fifth home run of the season in Wednesday's extra-inning win over the Rangers.

Cano was the first Seattle Mariners player to even homer in the team's first three games to begin a season. He had four home runs, seven RBI and scored four runs through the team's opening series. Entering Wednesday's game, he hadn't homered, logged an RBI or scored a run since that historic start. Cano likely won't have to wait that long to get his next home run, as he has a date with the short porch at Yankee Stadium this weekend.

Robinson Cano — The Seattle Mariners forgotten man

With a 73-77 record, it doesn’t look like the Seattle Mariners are going to be making the playoffs this season.

Once again, an inability to score runs has been a major problem for the Mariners in 2015, this year they didn’t have the pitching to fall back on however.

The Mariners .249 team batting average and 606 runs scored are both bad enough for 23rd in the entire MLB, while their 4.15 team ERA (Earned Run Average) ranks as 22nd best in the League.

Somewhere in the abysmal Seattle offense sits Robinson Cano. The 32-year old second baseman signed a 10 year contract with the Mariners worth $240 million in the 2013 offseason.

In 2014, Cano enjoyed a spectacular (but still somewhat disappointing) first season with Seattle.

Cano hit .314 (.382 on-base percentage), but had 37 doubles (his least since 2008), 14 home runs (tied for career low), driving in 82 runs (least since 2008), and scoring 77 more (least since 2008) in 157 games.

Yes, those would be great numbers for most players, but Cano isn’t most players.

Cano is once again having what many Major Leaguers would call a solid season in 2015, but for him it is further proof that he is declining.

Cano is hitting .281 (.332 OBP) with 34 doubles, 17 home runs, 69 RBI (Runs Batted In), and 74 runs scored in 144 games this year.

The problem in Seattle isn’t just Cano, and maybe that’s his problem.

Yes, Nelson Cruz is having an absurd season (.310 average, 42 home runs, 88 RBI), Franklin Gutierrez is having the common breakout-at-32-years-old season (.315 average, 15 home runs in 50 games), and Kyle Seager is Kyle Seager, but outside of that, there’s more offense in a lineup that faced Mo’ne Davis.

Cano is still putting up top-tier numbers, especially for a second baseman, but the stats would suggest that he’s on the decline.

So what do the Mariners do with a declining 32-year old that still has eight years left on his massive contract?

Easy, they put him in the middle of the lineup. The best thing Seattle can do is build a team that can actually hit around him.

No, I don’t think Cano will still be extremely productive when he’s 40, which is exactly why the Mariners need to utilize him now.

Cano’s numbers may not be what they used to, but he can still be the anchor of a solid offense.

Hunter Noll is a Staff Writer for Outside Pitch MLB. Follow him on Twitter