A late-game offensive onslaught by the Mariners led Seattle to a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays during Game 5 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) on Friday.
The Mariners now have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, and the Jays are on the brink of elimination from the post-season as they head back to Toronto for a must-win Game 6 on Sunday.
Starter Kevin Gausman had put the Jays in a good position to win, going five and two-thirds innings, giving up just one run — a solo homer from Eugenio Suárez, who would burn the Jays again later — and striking out four batters.
The Jays offence began to rally in the fifth, when an RBI double from George Springer tied the game 1-1. They took the lead in the next inning when Ernie Clement’s RBI single scored Alejandro Kirk.
Though they weren’t hitting the long bombs that have defined the last two games, the Jays were still putting runners on, with several batters throughout the night getting on base with doubles.
Springer’s exit
But the team seemed thrown by Springer’s sudden exit in the seventh inning after he was hit on the knee by a pitch.
After the game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters the Toronto slugger had “a right-knee contusion,” and said he’d undergone X-rays.
“George is about as tough as they come,” Schneider said. “And I think he’ll have to really, really be hurting to not be in the lineup on Sunday.”
But on Friday, things really fell apart for the Jays when Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh hit a leadoff solo homer off Toronto reliever Brendon Little, right after he entered the game in the eighth inning.
That tied the game, erasing the slim 2-1 lead the Jays had clung to for several innings.
Little then issued back-to-back walks before being yanked by Schneider, who brought in Seranthony Domínguez to try to stop the bleeding.
But he hit the next batter, Randy Arozarena, to load the bases before giving up a grand slam to Suárez, making the score 6-2.
And that’s where it would stay to end the game as the Jays couldn’t manage to put anything together in the ninth.
‘Huge at-bats’ for the Mariners
“Those are huge at-bats to get on base and get something going there,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said after the game, referring to the Seattle players loaded the bases ahead of the grand slam.
After the game, Schneider was asked about the decision to bring in Little, rather than other options from the bullpen.
“I wanted to see that part of the lineup see different guys,” the Jays’ skipper said, adding that Little had pitched in big spots for the team in the past.
“Everything gets magnified at this time of year. Decisions get magnified, pitches get magnified,” said Schneider.
“But these guys will bounce back, everyone on our team bounces back.”
The Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider discussed his call to start reliever Brendon Little in the 8th inning. The Jays lost 6-2 to the Seattle Mariners in Game 5 of the ALCS Friday and trail 3-2 in the series.
Series moves back to Toronto
The series returns to Toronto’s Rogers Centre for Game 6 on Sunday, with rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage getting the critical start for the Jays.
If they can pull out a win and force a Game 7, that final game will be played Monday, also in Toronto.
The winner of the ALCS will advance to the World Series — a stage Toronto last reached in the ’90s.
Seattle, meanwhile, has never been part of the Fall Classic.
Dodgers sweep Brewers
Whoever wins the ALCS will go on to the World Series to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, who beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 Friday night in Game 4, completing a 4-0 sweep of the National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers have won two of the past five World Series.
