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Barajas leads Blue Jays past Mariners 5-4

by Associated Press

Posted on September 27, 2009 at 12:33 PM

Updated Tuesday, Sep 29 at 10:54 AM

TORONTO - Pinch-hitter Adam Lind had a tying RBI single in the eighth inning and Rod Barajas followed with a go-ahead double, helping the Toronto Blue Jays rally for another dramatic 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.

Toronto grabbed the lead with three runs in the eighth one day after Lind homered twice, including a game-ending solo drive in the 10th inning, to power the Blue Jays to a 5-4 win that included Seattle star Ichiro Suzuki's first career ejection.

John McDonald started Sunday's winning rally with a leadoff double against Ryan Rowland-Smith. Jose Bautista followed with an RBI single and Aaron Hill walked before Miguel Batista came out of the bullpen to strike out Edwin Encarnacion and Vernon Wells.

Hitting for rookie Randy Ruiz, Lind slammed a two-strike single to center to tie it at 4. Barajas then doubled to left-center.

Brian Wolfe (2-2) pitched one inning for the win in Toronto's home finale and Shawn Camp closed it out for his first save since 2006, when he pitched for Tampa Bay.

Matt Tuiasosopo hit his first career home run, one of four solo shots by Seattle. Kenji Johjima, Franklin Gutierrez and Mike Sweeney also went deep.

Suzuki went 0 for 4 and was hit by a pitch, dropping his average to .351. Suzuki is second to Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer in the AL batting race.

It's the first time Suzuki has gone without a hit in consecutive games since Aug. 13-15, 2008. He went 0 for 3 in Saturday's loss before being ejected for arguing a called third strike.

Rowland-Smith (4-4) allowed five runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings.

Johjima and Tuiasosopo hit back-to-back homers in the fifth, with Gutierrez adding his 18th of the season two outs later. Johjima's homer was his ninth.

Toronto made it 3-2 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Barajas and an RBI single from Kevin Millar that went under the glove of shortstop Josh Wilson.

Sweeney connected against Wolfe in the eighth for his eighth homer of the year.

Toronto left-hander Brian Tallet allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings.

A crowd of 39,052 boosted Toronto's season attendance to 1,876,129, a decline from the 2,400,416 it drew in 2008. The Blue Jays finished 44-37 at home.

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