Cal Raleigh blasted a home run, Jorge Polanco delivered the decisive run with a sixth frame single, and the Seattle Mariners defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 Sunday night as they made their return to the ALCS for the initial occasion in two dozen years.
George Springer homered on the first pitch from Miller, who then escaped a bases-threatening situation in a 27-delivery first inning. Anthony Santander singled in the second for Toronto’s only other hit, and Mariners pitchers set down 23 of the Blue Jays’ final 24 batters. Miller, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz combined to throw just 100 pitches less than 48 hours after the Seattle team needed 209 throws to outplay Detroit over 15 innings.
Raleigh, the major league home run leader with 60, evened the game in the sixth inning with his ninth homer in 14 appearances at the Toronto ballpark. Kevin Gausman had previously kept batters hitless on splitters in the playoffs before the homer by the catcher.
Polanco hit a go-ahead single later in the inning and added an run-scoring single in the eighth.
“We are a resilient squad, you know, from top to bottom,” Raleigh said. “Pitchers came out today, really, really impressed us. They did awesome. Particularly on short rest and how many pitches they threw the previous game.”
AL West champion Seattle journeyed to AL East winner Toronto on Saturday after a 3-2 home victory over the Detroit Tigers to win the Division Series in the longest winner-take-all game in MLB history.
Seattle, the only MLB team to not have hosted a World Series game, held Toronto to two hits after the Blue Jays had 50 hits along with 34 runs in their four-game playoff series against the New York Yankees. Miller, who earned the win, fanned three and issued three walks in six frames, throwing 72 pitches. The bullpen trio each had 1-2-3 innings, with Muñoz getting the save.
“This will be a fiercely contested series, for sure,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “These guys will be ready for it.”
Springer's 21st playoff homer broke a tie with the Derek Jeter of the Yankees, placing him alone in fifth position on the all-time list. Raleigh's home run was his fourth in 15 at-bats against Gausman, who took the loss.
Polanco, the hero of Friday's game, singled against Brendon Little to drive in Rodríguez, who was walked by Gausman. Polanco later added another run-scoring hit against Domínguez.
Eugenio Suárez hit a double off the top of the right-field wall in the seventh against Louis Varland. The 395-foot hit would have been a homer in 15 of 30 big league ballparks, Seattle’s field included.
Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes left in the fourth inning. Lukes bruised his right knee when he fouled a ball into his knee in the opening frame.
A software engineer and tech writer passionate about open-source projects and AI advancements.
