Blue Jays 12, Mariners 4

TORONTO – Josh Phelps homered twice, including a tremendous grand slam, and drove in a career-high seven runs to lead the Toronto Blue Jays over the struggling Seattle Mariners 12-4.

Phelps’ second career slam came against Julio Mateo in the sixth inning and landed three rows into the fifth deck at SkDome, just the 11th time a ball has reached the uppermost tier.

He also hit a two-run homer off Travis Blackley (1-1) in the fifth and added an RBI double in the seventh to become the fifth Toronto player to have seven RBIs in a game.

Phelps finished 3-for-4, raising his average to .242. He started the season as the everyday designated hitter, but now only starts against left-handers because of his struggles.

Seattle has lost five straight and seven of nine. At 32-50, the Mariners are 18 games below .500 for the first time since Aug. 7, 1994 (45-63).

Toronto starter Josh Towers (3-3) won despite allowing four runs on 10 hits in 6 1-3 innings. He stuck out two and walked one.

Blackley, making his second career start in the majors, gave up six runs – five earned – on seven hits in five-plus innings.

Toronto’s Dave Berg hit an RBI single in the third, but Seattle scored three runs in the fourth on Jolbert Cabrera’s RBI single, Scott Spiezio’s sacrifice fly and Pat Borders’ run-scoring single to make it 3-1.

Phelps homered with none out in the fifth after Alex Rios reached on a wild pitch after striking out. Toronto added a run when Seattle third baseman Spiezio allowed a ball to skip under his glove for an error.

Blackley walked Gregg Zaun in the sixth and Eric Hinske chased him with a single. Julio Mateo relieved and hit Rios with a pitch to load the bases. Phelps followed with his slam, giving Toronto an 8-3 lead.

Rios added a bases-loaded triple off Shigetoshi Hasegawa in the seventh before Phelps had an RBI double.

Notes: Roy Howell has the Blue Jays record for RBIs in a game with nine on Sept 10, 1977, versus New York. … Phelps also reached the fifth deck on August 29, 2002, against Roger Clemens. It’s his third multihomer game of his career. His previous came Sept. 5, 2002, at Boston. … Seattle has lost 12 of 15. … The Mariners are 1-13 on Wednesday’s this season.

AP-ES-07-07-04 2211EDT