TORONTO — Even the mathematical possibilities are beginning to fade.
With Oakland and Kansas City losing, the Mariners could have whittled their deficit for a remaining playoff spot down to two games with a win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
And they got everything they needed to do it — except a couple runs.
After four days of horrid outings from their starting pitchers, rookie Taijuan Walker reversed the trend in dominating fashion, pitching brilliantly in the biggest start of his young career.
His reward?
Zero run support.
Walker pitched eight innings, giving up one run on four hits with a walk and six strikeouts. Yet it wasn’t good enough for him or the Mariners to get a victory.
Instead, his teammates were shut out yet again in a 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays. It was the Mariners’ fifth straight loss and the 19th time they’ve been shut out this season.
It leaves the Mariners (83-75) three games back with four games left to play. It’s better odds than a jackpot lottery ticket, but not by much.
Walker (2-3) took little solace in his success.
“We didn’t win,” he said. “It was a huge game that we needed to win. It’s kind of tough right now.”
Perhaps it was Walker’s true initiation as a Seattle starting pitcher — throwing a gem and still taking the loss because of lack of run support. It’s something he’s watched Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and even fellow rookie James Paxton suffer through on multiple occasions.
“In all of this, that’s certainly something I don’t want to get lost,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “That young man had a tremendous game. He really stepped up and did everything we asked him to do.”
The Mariners mustered little against veteran lefty Mark Buerhle, who was his typical fast-paced, strike-zone self. He breezed through eight innings, allowing just two hits – a bloop double to Corey Hart in the third inning and an infield single to Dustin Ackley in the fourth.
Both hits led off innings, but the Mariners did nothing with either opportunity.
Mike Zunino even drew a rare walk to lead off the sixth inning. McClendon had Taylor bunt him into scoring position. But it mattered little. Buerhle struck out Austin Jackson and Ackley to end the inning.
“He had it going,” McClendon said. “He’s a veteran guy that knows what he’s doing. He’s got great touch and feel. He had the cutter going in, good changeup, breaking ball and mixed it all. That was vintage Buerhle.”
Jackson has had to face vintage Buerhle on numerous occasions in his career and knows it isn’t fun.
“He was good,” Jackson said. “He was hitting his spots with all of his pitches, mixing his speeds up and we really couldn’t get too much going off him.”
Walker’s lone blemish came in the eighth. He picked up the first out thanks to instant replay. Kendrys Morales made a nice grab and a diving tag on Dalton Pompey’s bunt attempt down the first-base line. Pompey was originally ruled safe, but replays showed that Morales tagged him.
Walker got excited and then walked light-hitting Munenori Kawasaki on four pitches. It was his only walk of the game.
“Probably a little amped up, probably a little too much,” Walker said. “I had a four-pitch walk to the next guy, a guy I have to go right after.”
Walker came back to strike out Anthony Gose for the second out. But on a 3-2 changeup, No. 9 hitter Ryan Goins took a hard cut that produced a bloop single into shallow right-center field. In a 0-0 game, McClendon had the outfield playing deep to not allow a ball over their heads. The ball landed in between a charging Jackson and Logan Morrison and a retreating Robinson Cano.
“It was just one of those things,” McClendon said. “Obviously we are playing no doubles.”
With Kawasaki running on the pitch, the ball bounced high off the turf, not allowing Jackson to field it quickly and fire home. Kawasaki scored, and the one run would be enough.
“It fell right in between all of us,” Jackson said. “It was a tough play for everybody. . The guy hit it in the perfect spot.”
