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Jorge Castillo
TORONTO — Twenty-eight hours before they stole home-field advantage in the American League Championship Series with a 3-1 win against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Sunday night, the Seattle Mariners were stranded at home.
After surviving a strenuous 15-inning winner-take-all thriller Friday night and celebrating into the wee hours, the Mariners were scheduled to leave their home ballpark for the airport at 10 a.m. PT on Saturday. Across the continent, in less than 36 hours, their first appearance in the ALCS in 24 years awaited.
But mechanical issues delayed their flight as a plane flew from Los Angeles to shuttle them to Toronto. For more than four hours, the Mariners waited at T-Mobile Park. Finally, at 2:15 p.m., the team began their journey. They touched down in Toronto at 10:15 p.m. They arrived at their hotel after 11. As they traveled, the Blue Jays, idle since Wednesday night, held a workout at Rogers Centre.
The Mariners took Game 1 anyway behind Bryce Miller‘s six-inning gem on short rest, Cal Raleigh‘s game-tying home run and more timely hitting from ALDS Game 5 hero Jorge Polanco.
“We’ve talked about just how resilient these guys are,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “And tonight was one of those instances again.”
The difference in convenience was evident in the starting pitching matchup. Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gamman took the ball more than a week after shutting down the New York Yankees over 5⅔ innings in Game 1 of the ALDS last Saturday. Miller took it on just three days’ rest after logging 4⅓ innings in Game 4 against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday in his postseason debut.
Early on, the imbalance, as expected, appeared to benefit Toronto. George Springer ambushed Miller and swatted his first pitch — a 97 mph fastball that barely clipped the outside corner — over the right-field wall for a leadoff home run. The ball traveled at 109.4 mph.
More loud contact ensued. After Nathan Lukes worked a 12-pitch walk — in the process fouling a pitch off his left knee that forced him to exit the game two innings later — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. cracked a 107.2 mph line drive. Two batters after that, Daulton Varsho crushed a 102.5 mph line drive. Both balls were caught to end the inning, but the Blue Jays, after scoring 23 runs in their two ALDS games at home, were seemingly revving for another outburst.
But one never surfaced as Miller limited the Blue Jays to one run on two hits over six innings, surpassing the four-inning best-case scenario Wilson had envisioned for him. Instead, Miller became the first pitcher since David Price in 2018 to log at least six innings and allow no more than one run in the postseason on three or fewer days’ rest.
“They didn’t tell me anything, any plan,” Miller said. “So I was going out there just letting it rip until they came out and got me.”
Miller retired 17 of the final 19 batters he faced, surrendering just a single in the second and a walk in the sixth. His fastball averaged 96.3 mph, the highest of his 76 career starts. He threw 27 pitches in the first inning and just 49 over the next five. It was just the second time Miller has logged six innings in a start this season, one that has included two stints on the injured list with elbow inflammation and the largest ERA increase from last season (2.94) to this season (5.68) in the majors.
“I can’t say enough about Bryce,” said Matt Brashone of three Mariners relievers to throw a perfect inning to close the game. “That was incredible from him.”
Gausman had his own trouble early, but the Mariners stranded two runners in the first inning. Gausman then rolled, retiring 15 straight batters until Raleigh stepped into the batter’s box for a third encounter. The AL MVP candidate, after singling and striking out in his first two at-bats, choked up with two strikes and two outs and golfed a splitter into the right-field seats to silence the sold-out crowd.
“I thought I was pitching pretty well and last two guys I faced was a home run and a walk,” Gausman said. “So I’m not too happy about that.”
Hitters had previously been 0-for-15 with six strikeouts against Gausman’s splitter, his signature pitch. For Raleigh, the game-tying blast was his 12th home run in 27 career games, including the postseason, against the Blue Jays and his fourth career blast off Gausman.
“I was just trying to get bat on ball and really put something in play, maybe find a hole because I didn’t want to punch out again,” said Raleigh, who was booed from pregame introductions through his final plate appearance in the eighth inning. “I was able to put good wood on it. He’s a really tough pitcher.”
Gausman then walked Julio Rodriguez to coax Blue Jays manager John Schneider out of the dugout to replace his starter with left-hander Brendon Little. The move to the lefty prompted the blistering Polanco, a switch-hitter with an .888 OPS against lefties during the regular season, to bat right-handed.
The decision backfired. After a wild pitch allowed Rodríguez to take second base, Polanco, whose single in the 15th inning Friday kept Seattle’s season alivelined a single to left field to give the Mariners the lead. Two innings later, Polanco doubled the margin with an RBI single to right field on a fastball from right-hander Seranthony Dominguez.
“He’s been unbelievable,” Raleigh said. “He’s been the heart and soul over this last month.”
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, finished the game 1-for-28 with three walks after Springer’s leadoff home run. Their final 10 batters went down in order. It was a gutsy performance from a drained Mariners group that turned to closer Andres Munoz to shut the door in the ninth inning. He finished the job at 10:52 p.m., less than 24 hours before the Mariners had settled into town. Game 2 awaits on Monday.
“This was just, again,” Wilson said, “a good win up and down.”
