Blue Jays rout Mariners, tag Emerson Hancock for 5 runs

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Aug 28, 2026

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — For a brief period of time on Friday night, roughly 20 minutes, victory didn’t seem like an impossibility for the Seattle Mariners.

Of course, that fleeting moment came in the top of the first inning when Dominic Canzone had just annihilated a misplaced fastball from Toronto starter Dylan Cease for a solo home run.

When the first inning came to an end, the Mariners were trailing by two runs and their chances of coming back against Cease, the favorite to win the American League Cy Young this season, were slightly better than nonexistent.

As expected, the Mariners didn’t come back or score another run in what ended up being an 8-1 loss to the same Blue Jays, who were booed loudly and deservedly by their own fans on multiple occasions in a 13-2 pasting by the Royals less than 24 hours earlier.

How did it all turn so quickly?

Well, the Blue Jays’ offense that has been almost as bad as Seattle’s offense picked up three runs off starter Emerson Hancock in the first inning and never looked back.

Hancock gave up a leadoff single to Brent Bateman to start the problems. After Bateman stole second, Nathan Lukes hit a soft ground ball down the first baseline. Hancock bounced off the mound, gloved the ball and made an awkward lunging, sliding tag on Lukes as he sprinted toward first.

While he got the out, Hancock appeared to tweak something in his lower body. He grimaced noticeable and limped a little as he went back to the mound.

Head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson and manager Dan Wilson immediately came to the mound to check on him. After a long conversation and a few warmup tosses, Hancock remained in the game.

He never seemed quite comfortable.

Hancock gave up a bouncing double down the third-base line to Vlad Guerrero Jr. that easily scored Bateman to tie the game.

George Springer followed with an infield single and a throwing error on Brock Rodden put runners on first and third. Hancock hit Jesús Sánchez with a two-strike fastball to load the bases. Kazuma Okamoto gave Toronto the lead with a deep sac fly to right field and Andrés Giménez followed with a single that scored another run.

Given a lead and a reprieve, Cease worked the next five innings scoreless, allowing just four base runners.

Meanwhile, Hancock, who remained in the game, gave up a pair of solo homers in the fifth inning to Lukes and Springer.

Hancock’s final line: five innings pitched, five runs allowed on eight hits with no walks and one strikeout.