Millwood tries to solve Blue Jays

Veteran righty Kevin Millwood tries to reverse a career's worth of struggle against Toronto tonight when the Seattle Mariners visit the Blue Jays for game two of a three-game series at Rogers Centre.

The 37-year-old North Carolina native had 163 wins in 423 career appearances entering this season, his first with the Mariners after signing a one-year deal on Jan. 24.

The Mariners are Millwood's seventh big-league team since debuting with the Atlanta Braves - the team that drafted him in 1993 - in 1997.

He's started three times with Seattle and pitched a combined 15 1/3 innings, allowing 21 hits and 13 runs while losing to Chicago and getting no-decisions against Cleveland and Texas.

He's 2-7 in 12 lifetime starts against Toronto with a 5.17 earned run average in 71 1/3 innings.

For the Blue Jays, ex-Mariners reliever Brendan Morrow makes his third start against his former team and aims for a second straight victory in 2012.

He allowed seven hits and a single run in 6 2/3 innings in a 4-1 win at Kansas City on April 23, evening his record at 1-1 for the season.

Morrow appeared in 131 games and was 8-12 with 16 saves with Seattle between 2007-09 before heading to Toronto as part of a three-team deal on Dec. 23, 2009.

He's won both subsequent starts against Toronto with a 2.77 ERA.

On Friday, Michael Saunders hit two home runs, including a grand slam in the 10th inning, and the Mariners rallied to beat the Blue Jays, 9-5.

Saunders started a two-run rally in the ninth with a shot to center, then hit the tie-breaking homer to right off Luis Perez (2-1) in the 10th for his third homer of the season. It was Saunders' first multi-homer game of the year and his fourth multi-hit game in the past five.

Charlie Furbush (2-1) got two outs for the win and Jesus Montero also homered for the Mariners, who had lost eight of their past nine games in Toronto.

Edwin Encarnacion and Eric Thames hit solo homers for the Blue Jays, undone by three errors as their losing streak reached four games.

The Blue Jays won six of nine over the Mariners last season, sweeping the three-game series in Toronto.