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SEATTLE -- With the Seattle Mariners making a push for their first playoff appearance since 2001, Kendrys Morales might be the perfect hitter to help make it happen. Aaron Ramsey Jersey UK . Morales, acquired from Minnesota before the trade deadline, hit a two-run home run in the first inning to back a stellar start by Hisashi Iwakuma and lead the Mariners to a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night. Morales homer was his second in three at-bats, a span that started Tuesday night, and helped Seattle complete a sweep of the three-game series. Morales has four extra-base hits in three games, twice what he recorded in his first 15 games with the club since joining the team. "He brought it as soon as he got here -- respectability, stretch the lineup out," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He hasnt got the results he wanted, but I was happy to see him in there right from the start." Iwakuma (11-6) failed to finish seven innings for the first time in eight starts, but the right-hander still struck out five without issuing a walk in 6 2-3 innings. It is the seventh time in that stretch Iwakuma has allowed two runs or fewer. "Its a big series," Iwakuma said through an interpreter. "Winning two ... was big and I needed to finish up the series strong." Three relievers bridged the gap to closer Fernando Rodney, who earned his 35th save in 38 chances. The Mariners won eight of nine on their homestand and remained tied with Detroit for the American Leagues second wild card. The Blue Jays lost for the ninth time in 12 games to drop three games behind the final playoff berth. "We have been streaky, both good and bad, and we are due for a good one," Toronto starter R.A. Dickey said. Dickey (9-12) was shaky at times, but only allowed two runs and seven hits with four walks in six innings. The Mariners threatened on numerous occasions to extend the lead, but Dickey was able to strand at least two runners three separate times. The third proved to be the veterans greatest escape act, perhaps, as he avoided a one-out runners-on-the-corners situation by inducing a double-play grounder. TRAINERS ROOM Mariners: OF Michael Saunders will return to Triple-A Tacoma to continue his rehab assignment after leaving the team to attend the birth of his second child, a son. Saunders, on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left oblique, will need more at-bats in the minors before rejoining the Mariners. Blue Jays: 1B Edwin Encarnacion (strained right quadriceps) went 1 for 4 while playing all nine innings in the field on Wednesday for Triple-A Buffalo, which keeps him on track to rejoin the team on Friday in Chicago. UP NEXT Mariners: Seattle looks to continue its strong play in Detroit on Friday as left-hander James Paxton, 5-0 in his career, makes the start. Blue Jays: After a miserable start to an eight-game road swing, Toronto will get a day off before attempting to capture its first win of the trip against the White Sox. MORALES HITS TORONTO Morales is hitting .440 (11 for 25) with two home runs and six RBI against the Blue Jays this year, and is just .198 (39 for 197) against all other teams. SHUTDOWN PITCHING The Mariners extended their club record to 12 consecutive games allowing three runs or fewer. Their previous high was nine games, done from June 1-11, 2009. ROAD BLUES The Blue Jays have lost six straight road games and have five more on the trip before returning to Toronto. Calum Chambers Arsenal Jersey UK . Cornet won six straight games to rally from a 2-0 deficit and take the first set. The 25th-ranked Frenchwoman broke back twice in the second set before Bacsinszky saved a match point at 5-4. Olivier Giroud Jersey UK . Raonic, the mens No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., needed more than three hours to overcome Frenchman Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 and become the first Canadian man into the fourth round at Roland Garros.CHARLOTTE - Reaching .500 is usually not the recipe for first place in any sport but thats exactly where the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers find themselves as the two NFC South rivals get ready to meet on Thursday Night Football. The winner of tonights contest at Bank of America Stadium will take over sole possession of the top spot in the division, a testament to just how bad the NFC South has been thus far. A Week 8 loss to Seattle dropped the Panthers to 3-4-1, percentage points clear of New Orleans, which is 3-4 and coming off its most impressive win of the season, a 44-23 drubbing of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The 2-6 Falcons and 1-6 Buccaneers round out the disappointing foursome. If you said at the start of training camp or OTAs, hey, you have a chance in Week 9 to be playing for first place, would you take it? Yeah, Id take it, offensive coordinator Mike Shula told the Panthers website. Thats the mindset. You have to keep moving forward and forget about whats happened. The Saints will arrive in the Queen City knowing they are 0-4 away from the Bayou this season and have lost seven straight regular-season games away from New Orleans dating back to 2013. Carolina has its own concerns, most notably a 1-4-1 record over the last six games following a 2-0 start to the season. The truth of the matter is we had opportunities and we didnt make them on both sides of the ball, said Panthers coach Ron Rivera. You have to take advantage of opportunities in the red zone by putting the ball in the end zone. When you have third down and long, you have to be able to stop them. The Panthers were inside the red zone on their first two possessions last Sunday against Seattle and came away with two field goals. Later, they suffered a turnover inside the 20-yard line. As a result, all of the Carolina scoring in a 13-9 loss came from three Graham Gano field goals. The Seahawks, who have never lost three straight games with Russell Wilson under center, were on the verge of doing exactly that in Charlotte before Wilson willed his team to a come-from-behind road victory, firing a touchdown pass to tight end Luke Willson with 47 seconds remaining to lift Seattle to the hard-fought win. Cam Newton struggled for the second straight week for Carolina, completing just 12-of-22 passes for 171 yards and an interception. He missed both of his throws and was sacked twice on the Panthers final possession. We didnt play our best football, Newton admitted. The next opportunity awaits on Thursday and Im anticipating that to be a great game for us. Rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin continued to be a bright spot offensively for Carolina, recording four catches for 94 yards, including a career-long 51- yard reception in the fourth quarter to set up one of the teams three field goals. Benjamin currently leads NFC rookies with 571 receiving yards and five touchdowns. For the Saints, Drew Brees tossed three touchdown passes in Week 8 as New Orleans pulled away in the second half during the triumph over Green Bay. The game was deadlocked at 16 at halftime, but the Saints intercepted the red- hot Rodgers twice over an 11-attempt span in the final 30 minutes, quite the accomplishment because the veteran QB hadnt tallied a pick in his previous 213 throws. Brees, meanwhile, completed all 11 of his passes in the second half and finished 27-of-32 overall for 311 yards. Mark Ingram carried the ball 24 times for 172 yards and a touchdown and Brandin Cooks caught six passes for 94 yards and a score and added a 4-yard TD run for the Saints, who squandered a fourth-quarter lead for the third time this year in the prior weeks 24-23 loss at Detroit. Jimmy Graham hauled in all five of hiss receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown in the second half in the triumph. Laurent Koscielny Arsenal Jersey UK. I think the tempo was better today and I think thats something well continue to emphasize, Brees said. Division foes since Carolinas inaugural NFL season in 1995 -- first in the NFC West from 1995-2001 and now the NFC South beginning in 2002 -- the Panthers and Saints will be meeting for the 39th time with Carolina holding a slim 20-18 advantage in the all-time series. The two clubs will meet again in Week 14 in New Orleans. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Brees generally excels at night. Since joining New Orleans in 2006, the star signal caller has led the Saints to an impressive 22-10 mark in primetime games, the third-best record of any team during that span. And despite their pedestrian record the Saints have been as explosive as ever offensively and are tops in the NFC, averaging 445.4 yards per game, far ahead of Carolina (332.5 YPG). Brees in second in the conference with 2,227 passing yards but the issue has been ball security and New Orleans has a minus-six turnover ratio coming in, a stark contrast to the Panthers positive plus-four mark. Certainly theres all sorts of goals and theres big picture, small picture and I think what weve tried to do is really focus on the smallest picture - and thats our own team getting better, Saints coach Sean Payton said. New Orleans cleaned up things against the Pack and were plus-two in that game so its possible the worm has turned or at least the impact of Ingrams game against the dismal Green Bay run defense created more balance and enabled Brees to stop forcing the issue. If thats the case, the recipe could be there for a sequel because the Carolina D is a far cry from the unit that dominated in 2013 and is surrendering 378.5 YPG, slightly better than the often-maligned NOLA stop unit which is giving up about 12 yards more per contest. The Panthers gave up at least 37 points-or-more in four of their previous games until righting the ship a bit against the Seahawks. The main struggle has been to stop the run, as Carolina has surrendered 135.2 YPG on the ground, 28th best in a 32-team league. Offensively the Panthers hope to solve their red-zone woes and turn those Gano 3s into 7s. Carolinas 46.2 percent TD efficiency inside the 20 is also 28th in football. Its tough when you dont score touchdowns and miss opportunities, Rivera said. You have to make hay down in the red zone. The offense could be in line for a boost with the potential return of running back DeAngelo Williams, who has missed the previous four games with a balky ankle. Itll be a nice boost, said Rivera. When he and Jonathan (Stewart) get rolling and doing the things they do thats a huge thing for us. That could be a nice shot in the arm. OVERALL ANALYSIS Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me five times? Lets just say its tough to pick the Saints away from the Superdome but this is the team trending in the right direction and no one is happy about the way Carolina is looking. Furthermore, despite that lack of road success, New Orleans has been very close to getting over the hump, leading into the fourth quarter in three of their four road setbacks this season and losing those games by a total of just six points. So, lets be a glutton for punishment one more time here and figure on Payton and Co. finally figuring out a way to finally win one outdoors. Theres no more important game than this quick turnaround, the Thursday night game at Carolina, said Brees. This was the team that won the division last year. We are going to need our best performance to beat them. Sports Network predicted outcome: Saints 23, Panthers 20 Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '