The Seattle Mariners are going home with a commanding advantage in the American League Championship Series.
The pitching-centric team is crushing the Toronto Blue Jays in all facets of the game, slugging three home runs in Game 2 to cruise to a 10-3 victory Oct. 13 at Rogers Centre.
And now, history is overwhelmingly on their side.
They will take a 2-0 lead home to T-Mobile Park, knowing that in LCS history, a team that won the first two games on the road has advanced 86.8% of the time.
They can thank Jorge Polanco and a possibly peerless bullpen for the happy flight home to the Pacific Northwest.
Polanco broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run home run off reliever Louis Varland in the top of the sixth inning. Polanco also provided the go-ahead and insurance RBIs in Seattle’s 3-1 victory in Game 1.
‘It felt amazing,’ Polanco said in a postgame interview with Fox Sports, ‘to see that ball go over the wall.’
And for the second consecutive game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider’s mid-game maneuvers failed to pan out.
One night after removing Kevin Gausman after just 76 pitches, only for a reliever to let in the go-ahead run, he was perhaps too hesitant to remove rookie Trey Yesavage, who allowed an infield single and then intentionally walked Cal Raleigh before Varland gave up the decisive blast to Polanco.
Re-signed after the Mariners declined his option a year ago, Polanco is now 4-for-9 with five RBIs in this series, and has eight hits and 11 RBIs this postseason, six of the game-winning or go-ahead variety.
Meanwhile, Seattle’s bullpen combined for six innings of scoreless, one-hit relief, giving them nine scoreless innings this series. Eduard Bazardo and Carlos Vargas were particularly solid, contributing two innings and giving up just a hit and a walk, respectively.
All have combined to keep Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero hitless in seven at-bats this series.
— Gabe Lacques
Here’s how ALCS Game 2 unfolded:
Canadian Josh Naylor’s home run extends Seattle lead
On Canadian Thanksgiving, an Ontario native might have put the Toronto Blue Jays to sleep in Game 2 of the ALCS.
Josh Naylor, a Mississauga product, skied a two-run home run to right field in the top of the seventh inning, giving the Seattle Mariners a 9-3 lead and further quieting the masses at Rogers Centre.
Naylor’s blast off Braydon Fisher was the Mariners’ third home run of the game, following three-run blasts in the first inning by Julio Rodriguez and the fifth inning by Jorge Polanco.
Now, the stout Mariners bullpen needs just nine more outs with a six-run lead to go home with a massive 2-0 ALCS lead.
Mariners get insurance run in sixth inning
The Seattle Mariners added on, and are drifting even closer toward a commanding lead in the ALCS.
Pinch hitter Mitch Garver, the balding, part-time 34-year-old DH, smacked a triple off the center field wall and J.P. Crawford drove home pinch runner Leo Rivas as Seattle extended its lead to 7-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
The Mariners bullpen has been up to the task, as Eduard Bazardo pitched two innings of one-hit relief after starter Logan Gilbert was removed after three innings.
Jorge Polanco home run puts Mariners back in front
Jorge Polanco just might singlehandedly carry the Seattle Mariners’ offense to a 2-0 ALCS lead.
Polanco broke open a tie game with the Mariners’ second three-run homer of the night as Seattle took a 6-3 lead at the halfway point of Game 2.
Polanco drove in the go-ahead run and an insurance run in their 3-1 Game 1 victory. A night later, he came up with runners on first and second and one out against Blue Jays set-up ace Louis Varland.
He drove the pitch just over the high wall in right field, turning a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 Blue Jays lead.
Logan Gilbert done after three innings
If the Seattle Mariners are to snag the first two games of this ALCS at Toronto, they’re going to need their bullpen to be on point for six innings.
Manager Dan Wilson pulled starter Logan Gilbert after three innings and 58 pitches, perhaps feeling confident after he got six innings from starter Bryce Miller the night before.
Eduard Bazardo relieved Gilbert in the fourth and pitched a clean inning, extending to four the number of perfect frames by Seattle’s bullpen in this ALCS.
The game remains tied, 3-3, in the top of the fifth.
Toronto ties it up in the second
It took just two innings for the Toronto Blue Jays to erase Julio Rodriguez’s three-run homer.
Ernie Clement led off the bottom of the second with a single and came around to score on Nathan Lukes’ RBI hit as ALCS Game 2 was tied, 3-3, heading to the third inning.
While the score is tied, the starting pitchers are trending in different directions. Mariners starter Logan Gilbert is already up to 46 pitches and has allowed a half-dozen baserunners. Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage also needed 46 pitches to work two innings, but needed just 13 to retire the side in the second.
Blue Jays answer quickly with two in bottom of first
Much to the Seattle Mariners’ disgust, the Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup wasn’t going to stay down forever. After Julio Rodriguez’s first-inning, three-run homer, they answered back with two runs in the bottom of the inning. George Springer lashed a leadoff double, Nathan Lukes reached on an infield hit as Springer scored on an error and Alejandro Kirk knocked an RBI single to right, scoring Lukes.
After one inning: Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2 as Trey Yesavage needed 33 pitches to finish the inning, and Logan Gilbert expended 19.
Julio Rodriguez home run gives Mariners 3-0 lead
Trey Yesavage is no longer spotless – and the Mariners are positioned to take a commanding lead in the ALCS
The Blue Jays rookie right-hander who was near perfect in his playoff debut against New York got knocked around immediately in Game 2 of the ALCS, hanging his notorious split-finger pitch to Julio Rodriguez, who crushed it for a three-run home run.
Yesavage, 22, who’d made just three major league starts before his 11-strikeout, no-hit dominance in 5 1/3 innings against the Yankees, knew almost immediately this one would be different. The Mariners remained patient out of the gate, as Yesavage hit Randy Arozarena with a full-count pitch and then walked Cal Raleigh.
Yesavage then jumped ahead 0-2 on Rodriguez, threw one splitter in the dirt and then made a fatal mistake, hanging it for Rodriguez to guide just fair down the left field line.
Sure, there’s still 8 ½ innings to play but it’s not too early to think: Of the 38 teams that won the first two games of an LCS on the road, 33 (86.8%) have gone on to the World Series.
Mariners lineup today for ALCS Game 2
Randy Arozarena (R) LF
Cal Raleigh (S) C
Julio Rodríguez (R) CF
Jorge Polanco (S) 2B
Josh Naylor (L) 1B
Eugenio Suárez (R) 3B
Dominic Canzone (L) DH
Victor Robles (R) RF
J.P. Crawford (L) SS
Blue Jays lineup today
George Springer (R) DH
Nathan Lukes (L) RF
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
Addison Barger (L) 3B
Alejandro Kirk (R) C
Daulton Varsho (L) CF
Ernie Clement (R) 2B
Davis Schneider (R) LF
Andrés Giménez (L) SS
Trey Yesavage says people close to him ‘being attacked’
Trey Yesavage, who will start Game 2 of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners, began his press conference in advance of that outing decrying the attacks and negativity on loved ones since no-hitting the New York Yankees for 5 ⅓ innings in just his fourth big league start.
‘Living in this world where there’s so many different opinions and feelings which results in a lot of hate, it’s sad to see that people close to me are being attacked for my performances on the field,’ Yesavage told reporters. ‘These people have done nothing to warrant negativity for my actions, whether that’s my parents, my brothers, my girlfriend, family. It’s just really sad.
‘I know I have the platform to address it, so I am. I hope that people can realize that those individuals have nothing to do with what happens on the field or whatnot.
Have the Mariners ever won a World Series?
Seattle is one of five teams that has never won a World Series title and is the only club in Major League Baseball that has never even reached the Fall Classic.
The Mariners came into existence in 1977 and didn’t make the playoffs for the first time until 1995. This year marks Seattle’s fourth appearance in the ALCS after losing in 1995 (Cleveland), 2000 (Yankees) and 2001 (Yankees).
When did the Blue Jays win the World Series?
The Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series championships in 1992 and 1993.
They defeated the Atlanta Braves in six games in 1992 for their first title and then beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six to repeat, clinching on Joe Carter’s walk-off home run.