From utter futility to a startling fusillade: That’s the story of the Toronto Blue Jays in this American League Championship Series.
And after two games of punchless offense was followed by a lineup uprising in Game 3, they are still very much in it.
The Blue Jays annihilated Seattle Mariners starter George Kirby and three relievers, banging out 18 hits and five home runs in a 13-4 victory Oct. 15 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
The biggest wake-up call? Vladimir Guerrero Jr., held hitless in seven at-bats at Rogers Centre, ripped a pair of doubles and a homer in his 4-for-4 night, serving notice the series’ most dangerous hitter would not go quietly.
Seattle still leads this series 2-1, and in Game 4, the Blue Jays will trot out 41-year-old Max Scherzer for his first start this postseason. Perhaps Game 3 was just a speed bump on the way to the Mariners’ first World Series appearance in franchise history.
Or maybe this series has truly taken a turn.
The road team has won every game in this best-of-seven, a trend the Blue Jays hope holds for Games 4 and 5. It looked like an early winter in Ontario after Julio Rodriguez hit a two-run, first-inning home run and Mariners starter Kirby continued his solid postseason with two scoreless innings.
And then they jumped him: No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez tied the game with a two-run homer and Daulton Varsho ripped a two-run double, Toronto taking a 5-2 lead in the top of the third.
George Springer and Guerrero added home runs in the fourth and fifth and Kirby was chased without recording an out in that inning, with eight runs charged to him.
The lead was extended to 12-2 before solo homers by Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh prettied the scoreboard in the eighth.
But what a turnabout: Toronto had no extra base hits and just eight overall in 61 at-bats (.131) in their two losses at Rogers Centre. In Game 3: Seven extra-base hits and 18 overall.
It’ll all go back to zero in Game 4. But the Blue Jays, at long last, are on the board in the ALCS.
Here’s how Game 3 unfolded:
Alejando Kirk home run makes Game 3 a blowout
It’s a full-fledged blowout in the Pacific Northwest – putting the Toronto Blue Jays in even better position to climb back in this ALCS.
Alejandro Kirk’s three-run homer in the sixth inning pushed Toronto’s lead to 12-2 over the Seattle Mariners in Game 3.
That means the Blue Jays can keep all their high- and even medium-leverage relievers out of the game – saving them for Game 4, where they’ll probably need the backup for 41-year-old Max Scherzer’s first start of this postseason.
Vlad Guerrero Jr. goes deep, Jays extend lead to 8-2
Vladimir Guerrero chased George Kirby from the game, and the Toronto Blue Jays are piling on in Seattle.
Guerrero hit his first home run of the ALCS – and now needs just a triple for the cycle – and the Blue Jays lead the Mariners 8-2 midway through the fifth inning.
Guerrero’s shot to dead center field barely eluded the grasp of a leaping Julio Rodriguez. It was Toronto’s third home run of the night, following Andrés Giménez’s two-run shot and George Springer’s solo homer. Ernie Clement added an RBI single later in the inning.
George Springer makes home run history
The Toronto Blue Jays are fully activated.
George Springer moved into fourth place on the all-time playoff home run list by blasting a George Kirby pitch out to dead center field in the fourth inning, giving Toronto a 6-2 lead over the Seattle Mariners in Game 3 of the ALCS.
Springer’s homer was the 22nd of his postseason career, moving him into a tie with Bernie Williams.
It was also the Blue Jays’ fifth extra-base hit in their past two innings as they look for their first win in this ALCS.
Blue Jays take 5-2 lead with third-inning rally
The Toronto Blue Jays have awoken. And this ALCS might not be done yet, after all.
After going without an extra-base hit through the first two games and two innings of this series, they banged out four of them in the third inning, including Andrés Giménez’s game-tying two-run homer and Daulton Varsho’s two-run double, to take a 5-2 lead entering the bottom of the third.
What an attack: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., hitless in seven at-bats entering the game, drilled a 105-mph blast off the left field wall to reignite the rally after Giménez’s game-tying shot, which followed Ernie Clement’s leadoff double.
The go-ahead run scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch that Cal Raleigh could not block, and then Varsho – also 0-for-8 in the ALCS at that point – drilled the right field wall with a line drive and a 5-2 lead.
The damage all came off starter George Kirby, who looked untouchable through two innings – until he wasn’t.
Julio Rodriguez home run starts Mariners off right
With T-Mobile Park ready to ignite, Julio Rodriguez did not waste time lighting up ALCS Game 3.
Rodriguez blasted a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning as the Seattle Mariners took a 2-0 lead over Toronto, on a night they can move one game away from their first World Series trip in franchise history.
It could be a short night for Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber, who did not escape the third inning in his AL Division Series start against New York. On this night, he issued a leadoff walk to Randy Arozarena, then left a 93-mph fastball over the middle of the plate for Rodriguez, who blasted it into the left field seats.
George Kirby tosses scoreless first
Mariners starter George Kirby worked around Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s infield single with two outs to get through the first inning unscathed.
This is Kirby’s fifth career postseason appearance and he has a 1.50 ERA with 20 strikeouts 18 innings.
‘I think he’s done a really good job of really mixing really well,’ Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh said of Kirby before Game 3. ‘Obviously, I think he’s kind of, in a way, kind of hitting his stretch just because of the injury this year and he’s finally found that groove.’
Mariners lineup today: ALCS Game 3
- 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) LF
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
- Anthony Santander (S) RF
- Alejandro Kirk (R) C
- Daulton Varsho (L) CF
- Addison Barger (L) 3B
- Ernie Clement (R) 2B
- Andrés Giménez (L) SS
Mariners vs Blue Jays prediction, Game 3 odds
What time is Mariners vs Blue Jays today?
Game 3 of the ALCS begins at 8:08 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 15.