TORONTO - Travis Snider has undergone his fair share of trials and tribulations during his four-year Major League career, but he seems to have finally turned a corner and found a reliable state of mind.
The 23-year old outfielder, and former top prospect, proved to be an integral component of Toronto's offence Wednesday night, as he recorded five RBIs including a three-run homer in the fourth inning, to propel the Blue Jays to an 11-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners, who have now lost 11 straight games.
"I think the mindset is different," said Snider, of his approach since returning to the Jays on July 4 from a two-month stint in Triple-A. "Just being able to really concentrate on one day at a time. It really is being able to release your performance -- whether it was good, or bad the day before -- and just focus on the next day."
The 18,093 in attendance at Rogers Centre saw Snider and the rest of the Blue Jays offence strike early and often. Toronto scored four times in the second inning and belted seven extra-base hits, including blasts from Edwin Encarnacion in the sixth and Adam Lind in the seventh.
Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow (6-4) benefited from the early run support and has now won his last five decisions, boasting a 2.85 earned-run average over that span. The right-hander went seven strong innings surrendering three runs on seven hits, while striking out seven Mariners.
It wasn't all smooth sailing for Morrow though. Making his first start against his former club, he had to grind through a 26-pitch first inning that saw him work his way out of a bases-loaded jam.
"It's like dodging a bullet," Morrow said. "You feel like you've given yourself a chance to keep going. You don't want to put yourself in that hole."
"A little jacked up in the first inning," Morrow added about his emotions towards facing the club who drafted in him fifth overall in 2006.
After Morrow dodged the bases-loaded bullet in the first, the Jays offence went to work on Mariners starting pitcher Jason Vargas (6-8) in the second.
Using aggressive baserunning, a big part of Toronto's game lately, Lind went first-to-third on Encarnacion's rip down the left-field line, putting him in position to score on a Snider sacrifice fly.
Encarnacion continued the trend by stealing second, and eventually third. Most importantly however, was Encarnacion's ability to get back to second base on a hard-hit ball by Rajai Davis to infielder Dustin Ackley that surely would have resulted in an inning-ending double play.
"(Encarnacion) is playing outstanding baseball on both sides of the ball," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "Obviously a long home run and a double, but I think the key really was that they had a tailor-made double play that didn't get turned."
An RBI walk from shortstop Yunel Escobar, and a two-run ground rule double -- which could have been a triple if not for fan interference -- by Eric Thames capped off the four-run inning.
The Jays tacked on lone runs in the third via a Snider groundball to centre, and in the seventh courtesy a Lind homer -- his 18th of the season.
Vargas lasted just three innings for the Mariners, his shortest start since April 29 2006, when he went 2 1/3 as a member of the Marlins.
"I didn't feel like I was missing," Vargas said. "I don't know. We're all watching the same game. I got put in a pretty tough spot."
The Mariners anaemic offence, which has scored a respectable 11 runs over the past two games, plated two runs off Morrow in the fourth, and another in the seventh. Adam Kennedy hit a solo blast in the eighth, while Ackley hit a mammoth two-run shot in the ninth, but it was too little too late.
"Somebody's got to step up and do something about it because I know we're not satisfied with this," a frustrated Josh Bard said about Seattle's 11-game skid. "This is not OK, and nobody thinks that."
While the Mariners are undoubtedly struggling, the Jays appear to be on the upswing, in particular, a newly fine-tuned and wiser Travis Snider.
"As you go through your struggles you learn from them," said Snider, who has hit .357 since being recalled. "And I've been through a lot of them at this level. Just continue to learn from my mistakes and keeping the right mindset day-in-and-day-out."
Note: With record-high temperatures -- estimates as high as 37 C -- expected for Thursday afternoon's series-finale in Toronto, Blue Jays personnel have decided to keep the dome closed. This comes a few days after Phillies ace, and former Blue Jays starter, Roy Halladay, left his start Monday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in the fifth inning due to heat exhaustion... Blue Jays prospect Brett Lawrie, who broke his left hand after being hit by a pitch on May 31, went a combined 0-for-7 with five strikeouts during a double-header in his return to triple-A Las Vegas on Tuesday... Recovering from a sprained left knee, Mariners starter Erik Bedard threw a successful bullpen on Wednesday and is expected to pitch a simulated game in the near future. Prior to being placed on the 15-day disabled list June 28, the Canadian left-hander boasted a solid 3.00 ERA with 85 strikeouts to just 26 walks.
