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Walker turns in gutsy effort after early scare
- Updated: September 20, 2016
SEATTLE — Taijuan Walker survived a line drive off his arm and worked around a gimpy ankle, but he couldn’t quite overcome the Blue Jays on Monday night as the Mariners dropped a 3-2 decision in front of a raucous crowd at Safeco Field.
The 24-year-old wasn’t as sharp as his last outing — a complete-game three-hitter against the Angels — but he battled the Blue Jays tough and kept his team in the game despite some difficult circumstances.
“I thought Walker did a nice job hanging in there,” manager Scott Servais said. “We’ve seen that kind of game get off the tracks with Taijuan. But he did hang in there. He gave us a chance, and that’s all we ask from all of our starters.”
Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada didn’t give the Mariners’ offense much of a chance, however, as he allowed just one hit in seven-plus innings and Seattle was held scoreless until Leonys Martin’s two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth made things interesting.
Walker had to deal with an odd atmosphere as well, as more than half the crowd of 34,809 consisted of Blue Jays fans who came down from Canada and cheered loud and long for the visiting team. And with Edwin Encarnacion putting Toronto up, 2-0, with …
