TORONTO (Interstat) — Dylan Cease struck out eight over six innings of one-run ball, George Springer went 4 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs, and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Seattle Mariners 8-1 on Friday night at Rogers Centre.

Toronto jumped on Seattle starter Emerson Hancock with three runs in the first inning. Brett Bateman singled and scored on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s RBI double. George Springer singled, and after Jesús Sánchez was hit by a pitch, Kazuma Okamoto lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. Andrés Giménez followed with an RBI single to score Springer.

Dominic Canzone had given Seattle a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with his 20th home run of the season, a solo shot to right-center off Cease. That was the final run Seattle managed against Cease, who allowed four hits and one earned run in six innings while walking none and striking out eight.

Toronto added to its lead in the fifth. Nathan Lukes led off with a solo home run to right, his 10th of the season, making it 4-1. Two batters later, Springer homered to left, his 14th, to push the lead to 5-1.

Okamoto extended the margin in the sixth with a solo homer to left, his 27th, for a 6-1 lead. Toronto scored two more in the seventh. Nathan Lukes walked and scored on Myles Straw’s single. George Springer scored from third when J.P. Crawford committed a fielding error, stretching the lead to 8-1.

The Blue Jays collected 11 hits and received multi-hit games from Springer, who singled three times and doubled once in addition to his home run, and Bateman, who had two hits. Seattle managed five hits, with Canzone getting two and Julio Rodríguez adding a single. Randy Arozarena also singled and walked twice.

Hancock took the loss, allowing five earned runs and eight hits in five innings with one strikeout. Michael Rucker allowed two runs over two innings of relief. Seranthony Domínguez pitched a scoreless inning for Seattle.

CJ Van Eyk, Mason Fluharty and Paul Sewald each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for Toronto, with Fluharty striking out one.

The attendance was 41,910 and the game lasted 2 hours, 32 minutes.

Seattle fell to 64-71 with the loss, while Toronto improved to 66-71. The teams continue their three-game series Saturday at Rogers Centre.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Seattle 6, Toronto 4, but the total of nine runs went over the over/under of 7.5. Toronto was installed as a 1.5-run favorite. Interstat’s ELO system gave Toronto a 55.70 percent probability to win.