Making everything about yourself is not sound life advice, but this is also a Yankees blog, so bear with me in lamenting the forgettable performance from this supposedly unbeatable Blue Jays offense in Game 1 of the ALCS. Toronto was beaten at home by the Mariners in the type of game that makes the Yankees’ pitching implosion in the previous series look that much worse in hindsight.
American League Championship Series Game 1
Mariners 3, Blue Jays 1
(Seattle leads series 1-0)
The narrative of this game was written well before the first pitch
was thrown. If Seattle managed to be successful, the argument that momentum from a stressful Game 5 carried them towards a win against a slightly rusty Blue Jays team would be seen floating around. Had the Jays taken care of business at home, nothing would seem quite as obvious as the more rested team taking full advantage of that fact, especially playing at home. Ultimately, Seattle proved successful in what was a tightly contested affair from start to finish, even if it didn’t have that feel late due to the Jays’ offensive shortcomings.
Unlike the Kevin Gausman that induced 10 whiffs on his splitter against the Yanks, this version of the Blue Jays ace had more issues getting the Mariners to chase, and he certainly allowed plenty of hard contact (eight batted balls over 95 MPH). Bryce Miller, on the other hand, managed to keep a pretty low pitch count despite allowing three walks, with the sole blemish on his record a George Springer leadoff home run.
Whether it was the rustiness, simply an off day, or genuinely being overpowered by the Mariners’ pitching, the Blue Jays’ offense didn’t show up. That Springer leadoff solo shot was not only all the run scoring the Jays would produce across nine frames but also 50 percent of all their hits. Following Miller’s six innings of one-run ball, Seattle’s three-headed monster took care of the backend, with Gabe Speier, Matt Brash, and Andrés Muñoz each covering one scoreless frame. As mentioned at the top, this is a particularly tough pill to swallow for the Yankees, seeing the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Addison Barger, and company combine for a miserable two hits, 0-for-9 against Mariner relievers.
With Springer homering in the first, Gausman pitched with the lead for the vast majority of his outing, until a splitter that caught too much of the plate against Cal Raleigh allowed the M’s catcher to tie the score with a solo shot of his own.
As Gausman walked the following hitter, John Schneider decided he had seen enough and brought in Brendon Little out of the bullpen. Things quickly went south for Little, and a wild pitch and Jorge Polanco single later, the Mariners were ahead 2-1, a lead they’d never relinquish.
Little managed to mitigate the damage by getting Josh Naylor, but in a game where the Toronto offense was nowhere to be found, it didn’t much matter.
The Mariners even managed to get an insurance run in the eighth, one largely manufactured by Randy Arozarena, who managed to steal not one but two bases off Seranthony Domínguez after a leadoff walk. Arozarena eventually came around to score on yet another Polanco RBI single.
Perhaps the play of this game came in the bottom of the seventh inning. Anthony Santander was up with two outs and no one on against Gabe Speier, and he put a good swing on a sinking liner that Randy Arozarena laid out to grab it for the final out.
With the trajectory of the ball and lack of anyone near Arozarena, even with his speed, Santander probably has an easy triple if the M’s outfielder doesn’t make that catch, maybe even an inside-the-parker. Instead, it was just the Jays’ loudest out of the game.
Beating the Blue Jays’ ace after dealing with that emotionally and physically draining Game 5 of the ALDS, the Mariners earned more than just your usual opening victory in a best-of-seven series.
