The Toronto Blue Jays’ offense manhandled the Yankees in the ALDS, scoring 23 runs in the first two games of that series and still putting up 11 in the more competitive games in Yankee Stadium. They went cold as soon as they welcomed the Mariners into town though, scoring just four runs as Seattle stole two games on the road to set up a massive Game 3 in T-Mobile Park — on one side, the Mariners could put themselves on the precipice of their first ever World Series appearance, while on the other
Toronto could put some fear back into their opponents if they stormed the gates. The latter came to fruition as the Jays fell down early but shot way ahead by the middle innings.
American League Championship Series Game 3
Blue Jays 13, Mariners 4
(Seattle leads series, 2-1)
Things actually started out pretty well for Seattle. After George Kirby stranded Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the top of the first, Randy Arozarena led off the bottom half with a walk to get aboard for Julio Rodríguez, who ripped a two-run home run to left field. Jorge Polanco followed up with a ground-rule double, but the Mariners would get no more as Josh Naylor struck out and Eugenio Suárez popped up to end the frame. As it turned out, they wouldn’t get another good chance to score until it was far too late.
In the third inning, Ernie Clement led off with a double to set the table for Andrés Giménez, who launched a two-run shot of his own to tie the game. George Springer flew out after that, but Nathan Lukes singled and Guerrero hit a double to put runners in scoring position. Anthony Santander grounded out to get the Mariners an out away from avoiding further trouble, but Kirby walked Alejandro Kirk and then yanked a wild pitch to allow the runner at third to score. Daulton Varsho made matters worse by smashing a double to right to score two more, giving Toronto a 5-2 lead.
Springer added on with a solo shot in the fourth inning, and in the fifth Guerrero hit a solo homer as well to make it 7-2. The Jays put runners on for Clement who hit a two-out single to score one, but the second runner was thrown out going to third to end the inning. Still, the Mariners were bleeding runs, and Shane Bieber had rebounded well from his rocky first inning to keep Seattle from battling back. Bieber gave the Jays six innings of work, allowing just the two runs and four hits on the day while striking out eight.
Toronto kept giving him run support in the sixth, scoring four and capping off the inning with a Kirk three-run blast. In the eighth inning Seattle finally got the bats warm again, hitting a pair of solo shots from Arozarena and Cal Raleigh back-to-back, but they were well and truly out of it by then. For good measure, the Jays scored the last run of the game as well when Addison Barger hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth.
Now only down 2-1 in the series, Toronto has a chance to answer back and steal back home field advantage with another win in the next two games. Max Scherzer will make his first appearance of the postseason for them in Game 4, while Luis Castillo goes for his third appearance and second start following his 1.1 innings of clutch relief in the Mariners’ ALDS Game 5 marathon against Detroit.
