SEATTLE — Robinson Cano’s sacrifice fly in the 12th inning lifted the Mariners to a 2-1 extra-inning victory on Wednesday afternoon at Safeco Field.

Seattle (80-72) temporarily pulled within 2.5 games of Baltimore, which plays at Boston later on Wednesday afternoon, avoided a series sweep and belatedly picked up a game on the wild-card-leading Blue Jays.

There was plenty about the matchup that did not look good for the hosts.

To start, there was the matter of Seattle’s rapidly fading playoff prospects — despite having entered this homestand having eight in row.

“The math is not good,” M’s manager Scott Servais admitted before the game.

Felix Hernandez starts usually inspire confidence. But after an outing to forget against fellow playoff hopeful Houston last Friday — and with the memory of that start against the Blue Jays nearly two years ago to the day still lingering — even Hernandez’s presence caused a tremor of anxiety.

Jesus Sucre, who would knock out three of Seattle’s seven hits on the afternoon, kick-started the first scoring rally with a leadoff double in the bottom of the third. Norichika Aoki followed with a RBI double, and the Mariners had a lead that would stand until the ninth.

Toronto starter Aaron Sanchez kept the Seattle bats quiet from there. At 13-2 with a 3.17 ERA entering Wednesday’s game, the 23-year-old righty did nothing to dispel the notion that he’s one of the game’s brightest young pitching prospects.

Sanchez struggled a bit with his command, walking three batters to go along with four hits allowed in six innings of work. And on most days, that would have been more than enough, especially given Toronto’s offensive potency.

Hernandez, though, was in rare form — more rare than it used to be, but he picked a timely occasion in which to turn back the clock.

This was the team against which Hernandez experienced one of the lowest moments of career. Two years ago, on Sept. 23, 2014, the Mariners were in a similar spot in another playoff chase when they paid a fateful visit to the Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays scored seven runs in a single frame off the Seattle ace, and the M’s would miss the postseason by a single game.

On Wednesday, though, Hernandez was locked in from the start. He brushed back Blue Jays, working the inside corner of the plate. His curveball was sweeping, that changeup as deceptive as ever.

Hernandez threw seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits. He walked three and struck out four. He threw 112 pitches, 64 of them for strikes.

Steve Cishek followed out of the bullpen in the eighth. The relief pitcher surrendered a leadoff walk then caught a break when Sucre caught pinch runner Dalton Pompey attempting to steal second. Cishek walked Travis at the top of the Toronto then made way for Edwin Diaz, who struck out Josh Donaldson with two down and a man aboard.

Diaz faced off with the heart of the Blue Jays order in the ninth. He fanned Edwin Encarnacion with a 3-2 slider, worked the count to 2-2 against Jose Bautista.

Then he turned and watched as Bautista cranked a solo home run deep within the left-field bleachers to tie the score.

The Mariners stranded a runner at third in the bottom of the ninth, when pinch-hitter Dae-Ho Lee struck out swinging, as did the Blue Jays in the top of the 10th, when shortstop Mike Freeman made an incredible diving snag to his right to save the go-ahead run.

And so it went, the Mariners going down via three consecutive strikeouts in the bottom of the 10th, Nick Vincent coming out of the bullpen to strand a pair of Jays in the top of the 11th.

Kyle Seager, Franklin Gutierrez and Mike Zunino all walked in the 11th, setting the table for Freeman … who bounced out meekly to first.

Toronto stranded another runner in the 12th, then turned to R.A. Dickey as its 10th pitcher of the day. Guillermo Heredia reached on a Donaldson error, then Ben Gamel followed with a fielder’s choice and Cano stepped in to play the hero.