Toronto @ Seattle preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 12, 2014 ) Toronto 3, Seattle 6

The Seattle Mariners have the misfortune of playing in a division with the two best teams in baseball so they know there is only path to reach the postseason. The surging Mariners have won three straight and seven of eight to pull into a tie with Detroit for the second wild card in the American League as they prepare to host the finale of a three-game series versus the Toronto Blue Jays. Completing a sweep would put Seattle 10 games over .500 for the first time this season.

The back-to-back defeats have dropped Toronto two games behind the Mariners and Tigers in the cluttered AL wild-card race. The Blue Jays are 0-5 away from home in August after getting outscored 17-4 in the first two contests of their eight-game road trip. Although Toronto has scored three or fewer runs eight times in its last 11 games, help is on the horizon: Edwin Encarnacion hit a grand slam in his first rehab game at Triple-A on Tuesday and is expected to join the club Friday.

TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, SNET (Toronto), ROOT (Seattle)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays RH R.A. Dickey (9-11, 3.99 ERA) vs. Mariners RH Hisashi Iwakuma (10-6, 2.86)

Dickey did not factor in the decision for the first time in 11 starts last time out, permitting two runs on five hits over six innings against Detroit. The 39-year-old knuckleballer is struggling to find consistency, but he has pitched at least six innings in 11 consecutive starts. Dickey, two wins shy of 200 for his career, is 3-8 in 12 road starts despite a solid 3.79 ERA.

Unlike Dickey, Iwakuma has been a model of consistency with seven consecutive starts of at least seven innings while not permitting more than seven hits. He limited the Chicago White Sox to one run and five hits over seven innings on Friday to improve to 5-2 with a 2.04 ERA in his last eight turns. Iwakuma split a pair of decisions against the Blue Jays in 2013, yielding three runs and nine hits in 14 1/3 innings.

WALK-OFFS

1. Mariners 3B Kyle Seager is batting .360 in 21 career games versus Toronto.

2. Blue Jays DH Adam Lind returned from more than a month on the disabled list and was hitless in three at-bats Tuesday.

3. Mariners 1B Logan Morrison is riding a career high-tying 13-game hitting streak.

PREDICTION: Mariners 5, Blue Jays 3