SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners dominated the Toronto Blue Jays in all facets of the game in an 11-0 win on Saturday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

On a Fourth of July game, which featured a large Canadian attendance from up north in British Columbia, the Mariners let off the fireworks with three multi-run homers and a masterclass on the mound from starting pitcher Logan Gilbert.

Seattle improved to 46-44 on the season and regained sole possession of first place in the American League West by half a game over the Texas Rangers.

"We talk a lot about pitches with conviction and how effective they are," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said after the game Saturday. "And I think every pitch (Gilbert) threw today had serious conviction behind it. He just made good pitches all day long and never really gave them a chance to settle in."

For the fourth start in a row, Gilbert pitched into or through the seventh inning. He finished with the game with a line of seven strikeouts and one hit allowed in 7.1 innings pitched.

Gilbert was originally supposed to start in a piggyback outing with Emerson Hancock, but Seattle opted to give the former a true start.

Not only did that decision play to the tune of a shutout outing, it put Gilbert on the cusp of reaching a major career milestone.

Following his 7.1-inning quality start, Gilbert now has 998 career strikeouts. He came out for the eighth inning to try and reach 1,000 but a lineout for the first out of the frame resulted in him being pulled to a standing ovation.

"I was hoping it'd work out today," Gilbert said after the game. "I usually don't know where I'm at but, because I knew (1,000 strikeouts) was coming close, I checked just to see. I wanted it to happen at home, I thought it'd be cool. With the outing going well, the fourth (inning) and everything today, it was pretty exciting. So at the end, I was hoping it worked out there. But that's alright. I'll take what I can get. Never gonna complain about that (start)."

Gilbert carried a perfect game bit into the top of the fifth inning, which was broken by a two-out bloop single to left-center field hit by Toronto left fielder Yohendrick Pinango.

The Mariners offense gave Gilbert more than enough run support to back his masterclass.

In the bottom of the second inning, Seattle saw six consecutive hitters reach base safely with two outs. Second baseman Cole Young hit a two-out double and was brought home on an RBI single hit by center fielder Victor Robles.

Shortstop Colt Emerson hit a single to move Robles to third and, following a walk drawn by third baseman J.P. Crawford, left fielder Randy Arozarena hit a grand slam to left field. The collection of hits and walks gave the Mariners a 5-0 lead.

Arozarena finished the game 3-for-4 with three runs, four RBIs and a walk. He was a triple away from hitting for the cycle.

"When I went up there with the bases loaded, the first pitch (Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber threw at me) was a breaking ball and he kind of made me look bad," Arozarena said after the game via interpreter Freddy Llanos. "So I made that adjustment on the next pitch, knowing that the previous time before, I was able to get something on a fastball. I was just hoping that it was another slower breaking ball pitch. And I was able to make contact with it and get it out of the ballpark." 

Seattle continued to add on to the blowout following their second-inning explosion.

In the bottom of the fifth, designated hitter Dominic Canzone hit a two-run home run to center field to bolster the team's lead to 7-0.

Canzone followed his homer up with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth that made it 8-0.

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh capped off the scoring with a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth that resulted in the eventual final of 11-0.

It was Raleigh's ninth home run of the season and first at T-Mobile Park since a game against the Athletics on April 22.

"(Raleigh) continues to work," Wilson said. "I know they've been working on things and it looks like his timing was a little better today. We talked about things to look for and I thought some of his takes were good, some of his foul balls were good and to finally get one and really drive it out of the ballpark ... really good to see. I know that had to feel good."

Seattle will try and secure consecutive series wins for the first time since May 29-June 3 in the rubber match against the Blue Jays at 2 p.m. PT on Sunday at T-Mobile Park.

Hancock will start for the Mariners and Trey Yesavage will start for Toronto.

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