Mariners’ small mistake paves way for Jays’ big rally

SEATTLE — It all started innocently enough, with a misplayed popup by Mariners catcher Chris Iannetta, who overran a towering foul ball and was charged with an error when it dropped behind his outstretched glove as he tried to reach back at the last second.

But instead of two outs and nobody on the fourth with a two-run lead, Mariners pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma wound up giving up a single to right by Jose Bautista. And then the wheels came off as nine straight Blue Jays proceeded to reach base in an eight-run, eight-hit rally that knocked Iwakuma out of the game and wobbled the Mariners’ postseason hopes with what turned into a 10-2 loss at Safeco Field.

“It’s not fun to make a mistake,” Iannetta said. “You play this game, you don’t want to make errors. It’s going to happen. It’s part of the game. I’ve made errors before. Everybody on the field has. Everyone who’s played this game has. It’s unfortunate when it happens, you try to put it past you. We could have easily got the next two guys out and it would have been a non-issue, but it’s just the way it is.”

Two-run home runs by Russell Martin and former Mariner Michael Saunders were the big blows as the Blue Jays jumped to an 8-2 lead in that fateful fourth. And Iwakuma took full responsibility for leaving pitches up in the zone to both hitters.

“That was the time when things started to go their way,” Iwakuma said of Bautista’s …

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