Flexen's road woes continue vs. Blue Jays

In their first game at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y., the Mariners never found their groove, and Chris Flexen was unable to slow down the Blue Jays’ lineup as Seattle fell, 9-3, on Tuesday.

In his first career start against the Blue Jays, Flexen came out of the gate with an impressive first inning. However, the depth of Toronto’s lineup began to show in the second when the Blue Jays put together a string of hits capped by a two-run double from second baseman Marcus Semien.

“Our old nemesis Marcus Semien showed up right in the middle of everything tonight. We've certainly seen a lot of Semien here over the last few years,” said Mariners manager Scott Servais of the former A’s infielder. “He's always been a thorn in our side, and he had some really quality at-bats in the ballgame tonight.”

Coming into Tuesday’s matchup, Flexen had allowed one walk or fewer in 10 of 13 starts this year, and over the past five games, he had posted a 2.41 ERA while limiting opponents to a .205 average. However, on the road Flexen had a 7.27 ERA over 26 innings.

“Just part of the game. You continue to try to limit damage and limit the crooked numbers, and I wasn't really able to do that specifically in that inning,” said Flexen. “Tonight was just one of those where I made some good pitches, and I didn’t make the big pitches tonight.”

Flexen allowed a season-high three walks, but he attacked the strike zone, resulting in a first-pitch strike to 16 of the 25 batters he faced. Despite his rough second inning, Flexen kept the game close through his five-inning performance, allowing seven hits and three runs.

“I thought Flexen did a good job to keep us in the ballgame,” said Servais. “We got a big home run by Ty [France] to tie it up there, but we just couldn't hold them down. They've got a really good offensive club, and you make mistakes and they take advantage of it.”

After five scoreless innings, the Mariners got their offense going in the sixth on back-to-back singles from J.P. Crawford and Mitch Haniger. France then took his chance on the first pitch and hit a game-tying three-run home run to center field, his eighth home run of the year. In the bottom of the sixth, Flexen was replaced by Rafael Montero. Unfortunately, just 10 pitches later, Bo Bichette broke the tie with a three-run homer.

“Big swing in the game, momentum-wise,” said Servais of France’s homer. “You feel like you're in a good spot there. We didn't execute after that, and it got away from us quickly. The home runs are gonna play big in this series -- we saw already tonight. There's no question about it. Unfortunately you make the mistake to Bichette, it wasn't the game plan and we paid the price.”

Coming into Tuesday’s matchup, the Mariners had been solid at the plate, hitting .241 with 15 home runs over their previous 10 games. However, Seattle never looked comfortable against Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray, and following Haniger's single in the top of the first, Ray retired the next 14 Mariners batters. Seattle had several chances to make a comeback but went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

“[Ray’s] velo’s definitely up,” said France. “We had some good stuff working early. That last inning we got to him, so overall as an offense, I thought we did pretty well against him.”