Tonight, the Blue Jays were in Seattle to face the Mariners in Game #3 of the American League Championship Series. They trailed 2-0 going into the game.
And those who saw the matches know that they were not in the game.
However, it started badly for the Blue Jays, who didn’t really have the luxury of starting badly. Julio Rodriguez, in the first inning, hit a two-run homer against Shane Bieber.
It was a nice slap.
But in the third inning, the Toronto attack stood up. Andres “auto out” Gimenez stood up and, in turn, found a way to slam a two-run homer.
This brought everyone back to square one.
Nathan Lukes then went on base and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got up with a double (his second hit of the game), putting two players in scoring position for the Blue Jays.
And it paid off.
With the bases loaded, a nasty throw allowed Lukes to score on a passed ball. Then, Daulton Varsho hit a big two-run double to make it 5-2 for his team.
The five-run inning felt really good.
This even pushed Bryan Woo to take the path to the bullpen… even if the excellent starting pitcher did not need to take the field during the game.
George Springer, in fourth, also took advantage of the fact that George Kirby did not have his best game tonight. He hit his second home run of the series to make it 6-2… and his 22nd career postseason. He is fourth in history.
This made Vladimir Guerrero Jr. want to get up. He hit his third hit of the game – and of the series, having been 0-for-7 following the first two games.
And it was a solo tour. One batter later, Kirby left the mound.
Reliever or not, that didn’t stop the Blue Jays from continuing to score. Ernie Clement got the ball to safety and made it 8-2 in the fifth inning.
The club added four runs in the sixth inning to make it 12-2 – including a three-run homer from Captain Kirk – and the game was out of reach for Seattle. But still, Shane Bieber only pitched six innings.
Yariel Rodriguez, in the eighth, gave back-to-back home runs to Randy Arozarena and Cal “Big Ass” Raleigh. The pitcher is coming out of important moments in the playoffs, as highlighted by the TVA Sports descriptors…
Addison Barger hit his first hit of the series to make it 13-4. The Blue Jays won (on the road) their first game of the series and the series is 2-1 in favor of Seattle. Tomorrow, Max Scherzer and Luis Castillo will cross swords at 8:33 p.m.
- For the first time this season, Shohei Ohtani took part in batting practice on the field.
- Yankees: End of season press conference tomorrow.
