TORONTO – Two nights after a 15-inning classic punched their ticket into the next round, the Mariners dug deep and found more late magic, shrugging off a cross-country flight and their weary bullpen to stun the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.
Cal Raleigh launched a game-tying home run in the sixth inning and Jorge Polanco ripped a pair of run-scoring singles, silencing a raucous Rogers Centre crowd and lifting Seattle to a 3-1 victory on Sunday evening.
“Yeah, tremendous, Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “I think we’ve talked about just how resilient these guys are, and tonight was one of those instances again. Great job all around.”
Bryce Miller delivered a gritty six-inning outing on short rest, extending the Mariners’ October surge while reigniting echoes of their 2022 Wild Card Series comeback in this same park — a message that Seattle’s hunt for its first World Series berth is gathering real momentum.
In postseason history, teams winning Game 1 in any best-of-seven series have gone on to take that series 126 of 194 times (64.9%). In series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams winning Game 1 on the road have gone on to take that series 40 of 71 times (56.3%).
Facing Kevin Gausman and his signature splitter, Seattle squandered a scoring opportunity in the first inning, as third baseman Addison Barger threw home on a Polanco fielder’s choice, with Raleigh sliding into a tag from catcher Alejandro Kirk.
That seemed to loom large when George Springer hammered Miller’s first pitch, a 97.3 mph four-seamer, into the right-field seats — a new series and the same story for the Blue Jays, who took their power to a new level by producing 34 runs in their four-game ALDS showdown against the Yankees.
Springer raised his left index finger and pointed into the seats after crossing home plate, savoring the first leadoff homer ever hit by a Blue Jay in a postseason game. It was the first leadoff homer on the first pitch of Game 1 of a playoff series since the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber in the 2023 NLCS.
But Miller recovered after a shaky 27-pitch first inning that featured hard contact and raised concern about a short outing, settling in as he and Gausman traded zeros into the middle of the contest. Gausman needed just four pitches to navigate the fifth inning, but Seattle got to the veteran right-hander in the sixth.
“Coming back tonight and getting Game 1 is obviously a big momentum shift for us,” Wilson said. “And a lot of work to do yet, but the job that Bryce Miller did tonight was phenomenal. Coming back on short rest and getting behind early there with the first pitch of the game, getting a little bit of traffic, even in the first inning the at-bat by [Nathan] Lukes was outstanding, put a lot of pitches on him. And I thought after that first inning, he went into a different gear, and you saw him getting ahead using all his stuff. The fastball kept coming out really good.”
After fanning Randy Arozarena to open the inning, the 15th consecutive out recorded by Gausman, Raleigh dug out an 86.2 mph splitter that hushed the crowd. Gausman put his hands on his head and screamed in anguish; Raleigh tossed the bat aside and began a home run trot he’s now taken 62 times this year (60 in the regular season).
It was Raleigh’s ninth homer in 14 career games at Rogers Centre, and the fourth of his career against Gausman (first in postseason).
Gausman exited after issuing a walk to Julio Rodríguez, who advanced when Brandon Little bounced a wild pitch to the backstop. As he did in the ALDS clincher against the Tigers, Polanco delivered the go-ahead hit, this time mashing a clean single to left field that gave Seattle the lead.
Pitching on three days’ rest for the first time in his career, Miller picked a most opportune time to deliver his sharpest outing of the season, limiting Toronto to two hits in a 76-pitch effort, walking three and striking out three.
The Mariners added an insurance run in the eighth, capitalizing on Seranthony Domínguez’s spotty control. Arozarena walked, then stole twice, coming in to score on Polanco’s second run-scoring hit of the game. Andrés Muñoz worked the ninth inning for the save as Seattle’s bullpen combined for three scoreless frames.
