Had the Seattle Mariners stuck with their plan to piggyback their starting pitchers on Saturday, there might have been an uproar at T-Mobile Park.

Logan Gilbert allowed one runner in 7 1/3 innings, and the Mariners hit three homers — including a grand slam by All-Star Randy Arozarena — in an 11-0 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The rubber match of the three-game series in Seattle between the teams that met in last year’s American League Championship Series is set for Sunday.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson announced before Saturday’s game that Gilbert would have a normal start and that fellow right-hander Emerson Hancock (5-4, 3.47 ERA) would start on Sunday instead of replacing Gilbert after 65 to 75 pitches, as planned.

Gilbert retired 22 of the 23 batters he faced, allowing only a bloop single to Yohendrick Pinango into shallow left field with two outs in the fifth inning, the ball falling between outfielders Victor Robles and Arozarena.

“Everything felt good,” Gilbert said. “Any time the offense puts up that many runs, it makes it a lot easier. You feel more comfortable, more free out there to just stay on the attack. Everything worked out pretty well.”

Wilson indicated the Mariners would go with a six-man rotation until the All-Star break.

“We’re sort of re-slotting a little bit to make sure everyone’s fully rested going into and coming out of the break,” said Wilson, whose starters have pitched a major-league-high 520 1/3 innings. “So more to come on that, but that’s the approach right now.”

Arozarena, who learned before the game he’d been selected to the AL All-Star squad, went deep off Shane Bieber in the second inning to cap a five-run rally that started with two outs.

“It’s kind of a recognition of all the hard work, all the discipline, everything you’ve put into it,” Arozarena said through an interpreter. “Just being able to be among the best, you feel satisfied. It lets me know I’m going in the right direction with everything I’ve been doing.”

Seattle’s Dominic Canzone added a two-run homer in the fifth, and Cal Raleigh hit a three-run blast in the sixth.

“That was a good old-fashioned (butt) kicking on the Fourth of July,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider, whose team won the series opener 2-0 on Friday.

Blue Jays pitchers Dylan Cease and Louis Varland and infielders Ernie Clement and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. were named All-Stars, though Guerrero is expected to sit out with an ailing lower back.

The Blue Jays are scheduled to start right-hander Trey Yesavage (4-3, 3.34 ERA) in the series finale. He’s coming off a 2-1 victory Monday against the visiting New York Mets in a game in which he allowed one run on three hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Yesavage will face the Mariners for the first time in the regular season after going 1-1 against them in the ALCS last fall, just weeks after making his MLB debut on Sept. 15.

Hancock, meanwhile, got a no-decision last Sunday in a 6-5 loss at Cleveland despite giving up just one run through 5 2/3 innings. He’s 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in one previous start against Toronto.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Dodgers will have some post-holiday lineup changes in store on Sunday when they chase a four-game series sweep against the visiting San Diego Padres.

After Shohei Ohtani got the day off Saturday, one day after he admitted to some right biceps discomfort, he is expected to be back in the leadoff spot for the series finale. Also on Sunday, catcher Eliezer Alfonzo Jr. set to make his major league debut.

Ohtani did not perform any baseball activities Saturday, with manager Dave Roberts saying after the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory that he expects his All-Star designated hitter to play.

Alfonzo was added as the backup to catcher Dalton Rushing on Saturday, with Will Smith’s stint on the injured list expected to extend through the All-Star break because of neck inflammation.

A nine-year minor leaguer, Alfonzo is in his first year with the Dodgers after he was in the Detroit Tigers’ system since he was 17. He replaces Chuckie Robinson, who was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

“We didn’t know initially how long Will was going to be down, and so kind of the easy fix was Chuckie,” Roberts said. “And then as it became a little bit more extended, we just wanted to take this opportunity to put eyes on Eliezer.”

The opportunity is a feel-good moment Alfonzo needed with his sister and stepmother still missing following last month’s earthquake in Venezuela.

Eliezer’s first assignment will be to catch right-hander Emmet Sheehan (4-5, 5.08 ERA), who ended a four-start losing streak when he held the Padres to one run on two hits over five innings last Sunday. Sheehan is 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA in three career starts against San Diego.

The Padres will be out to end an eight-game losing streak when they send left-hander JP Sears (1-1, 6.97) to the mound. Sears has made two starts since his season debut on June 24. He has just one appearance against Los Angeles in 2023, taking the loss despite permitting two runs in five innings.

The losing skid is San Diego’s longest since it lost 10 consecutive games in 2013.

“It ain’t no fun right now,” said the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr., who had two of the team’s four hits Saturday.

While the Dodgers had five players named to the National League All-Star team — Ohtani, Andy Pages, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — the Padres had just one in closer Mason Miller.

Miller’s outing Saturday, in a non-save situation, was his first since Monday. He has not recorded a save since June 22.

Miller hit Tommy Edman with a pitch as the first batter he faced. Freeman followed with an RBI single after he hit a home run earlier in the game.

If the shutout defeat wasn’t bad enough, the Padres lost the series opener when they blew a six-run lead and couldn’t hold on to a three-run advantage to the Dodgers on Friday.

“Like we’ve talked about with the offense kind of this first half, it’s kind of got off to a slow start,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “I think by the end of the season these guys are going to have numbers that they’ve had in the past and we’ll forget about this All-Star break period and look at the season as a whole.”

–Field Level Media

The overachieving Miami Marlins have their sights on completing a three-game sweep when they visit the Athletics on Sunday afternoon in West Sacramento, Calif.

Miami has smacked eight homers and scored 19 runs while winning the first two games. The Marlins are six games above .500 to match their season best.

“Everybody is doing their part, the way we’ve been fighting together is amazing,” said Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara, who gave up one run in eight innings Saturday to win his seventh consecutive start.

Shortstop Otto Lopez, who was named to his first All-Star Game earlier in the day, went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs during the 7-2 victory. He leads the majors in batting average (.341) and hits (120).

Learning he was an All-Star at Sutter Health Park was surreal to Lopez. He was playing for Triple-A Sacramento early in the 2024 season when he was designated for assignment by the San Francisco Giants.

The Marlins claimed him off waivers three days later and he’s emerged as a star in his third season with Miami.

“Now I became an All-Star in the same place,” Lopez told reporters. “It’s a good story I would say.”

Kyle Stowers hit two homers Friday and has gone deep three times in the series.

The slumping Athletics have lost 10 of their past 13 games.

Carlos Cortes, Henry Bolte and Josh Kuroda-Grauer each had two hits for the A’s. Kuroda-Grauer is batting .444 (8-for-18) in five games since being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas.

“He’s a baseball player,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay of Kuroda-Grauer. “It’s fun to watch. I think he’s come here with confidence. He’s hit at every level. He continues to take great at-bats, which is a good sign.”

Zack Gelof (hand) came off the injured list and went 1-for-3. Gelof had a career-best 24-game hitting streak end when he was spiked by Matt Chapman of the San Francisco Giants on June 23, leading to the IL stint.

Both teams had two players named to the July 14 All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

The Athletics feature American League starters in catcher Shea Langeliers and first baseman Nick Kurtz. The latter was elevated to starter when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (back) of the Toronto Blue Jays said he’s pulling out of the game.

It will mark the first time since 1991 – outfielders Rickey Henderson and Dave Henderson – that the A’s have two starters.

It is the first All-Star experience for both Langeliers and Kurtz. Both players have hit 20 homers.

“I think it’s going to be a really cool experience,” Langeliers told reporters. “250 years of the United States in Philadelphia. Just the way that lined up is really cool.”

Langeliers (left thumb contusion) sat out Saturday after being hurt Friday. He will also miss the finale.

Right-hander Max Meyer joined Lopez in earning his first All-Star appearance for the Marlins. Miami has two players on the National League team for the first time since 2023 (infielder Luis Arraez, designated hitter Jorge Soler).

“It’s pretty special,” said Meyer, who’s 9-1 with a 2.53 ERA. “I’m glad that it doesn’t really feel like a personal award, because I have so many staff members that are always pulling for me.”

Right-hander Eury Perez (4-6, 4.21 ERA) will start for Miami. He defeated the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday when he gave up one run and two hits over 5 1/3 innings. Perez, 23, defeated the A’s in his lone career outing when he gave up four hits over five scoreless innings of a 12-1 Marlins rout in June 2023.

Rookie left-hander Gage Jump (3-2, 2.93) will start for the Athletics. He’ll try to bounce back from a rough outing in which he gave up five runs and 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings during a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

–Field Level Media