Canseco Spurs Blue Jay Rally

Chris Carpenter kept Toronto within striking distance. Then Jose Canseco’s two-out, broken-bat double gave the Blue Jays the edge they needed.

Canseco’s hit drove in two runs and sparked a six-run rally in the seventh inning as Carpenter and the Blue Jays beat Seattle, 7-4, Tuesday night, ending the Mariners’ four-game winning streak.

“You have to give a lot of the credit to Carpenter because he allowed us to stay close through out the game and then we blew it open,” Canseco said.

Carpenter (7-6) gave up three earned runs on six hits in seven-plus innings. He struck out six.

“At the beginning we didn’t get much going, but we knocked the starter out of the game and scored six runs in one inning,” Carpenter said. “I just wanted to stay out of a big inning.”

Paul Quantrill pitched 1 2/3 innings for his third save.

Ken Griffey Jr. was one for four with two strikeouts, stretching his homerless streak stretched to 10 games. He hasn’t connected in his last 46 at-bats--his longest drought of the season for the Mariners--yet he still leads the AL with 41 home runs.

Asked if the pressure of chasing Roger Maris’ record was getting to Griffey, teammate Alex Rodriguez said, “I don’t think so. Junior’s been dealing with pressure since he was 15 years old. . . . I don’t think the media or anybody else can affect him. But he can get hot, he can hit 10 in a week.”

Jay Buhner and John Marzano hit home runs that gave Seattle a 2-1 lead entering the seventh.

But Shannon Stewart tied the score with a sacrifice fly and Shawn Green was hit by a pitch from Jeff Fassero (10-8). Canseco’s double put the Blue Jays ahead, 4-2, and Carlos Delgado followed with a run-scoring double, bringing Heathcliff Slocumb from the bullpen.

Jose Cruz tripled home another run and Tony Fernandez capped the burst with an RBI single, sending Toronto to its third straight victory.

“I felt good out there and I thought I did well but it was just that one inning,” Fassero said. “It wasn’t like they knocked the cover off the ball, but they just got the hits when they needed to get them.”

David Segui’s sacrifice fly and Buhner’s RBI single cut the Blue Jays’ lead to 7-4 in the eighth.

Marzano homered in the second inning. Buhner hit his 10th homer in the fourth.

Craig Grebeck singled and later scored on Stewart’s double in the fifth, making it 2-1. Grebeck had three hits.