While the National League Championship Series was decided with the minimum, the AL counterpart will go the maximum.
With a chance to reach the World Series for the first time in their franchise’s history Sunday night in Toronto, the Mariners were stifled in Game 6 of the ALCS by a 22-year-old rookie starter who had other ideas in a 6-2 Blue Jays win, setting up a winner-take-all Game 7 on Monday night.
Here are my takeaways:
1. With the season on the line, Jays’ rookie wins the battle
The last time Trey Yesavage and Logan Gilbert faced off in Game 2, neither left with an impressive line. Yesavage was unable to baffle Blue Jays hitters with his splitter the way he did against the Yankees in the American League Division Series, while Gilbert looked rusty coming off just two days of rest after being called upon in relief to help finish off the Tigers in the ALDS.
With five days off before they faced off again, the advantage would seemingly go to the veteran, Gilbert, and not the 22-year-old trying to save Toronto’s season in his sixth career big-league appearance. But Yesavage was up for the challenge.
“A lot of guts for a young guy,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider.
(Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
After getting just two whiffs on his splitter in Game 2, Yesavage got 10 in Game 6 while striking out seven. He got the ball on the ground when he needed to (we’ll get to that later) and held the Mariners scoreless through his first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. By then, Toronto already had the upper hand. And Gilbert was long gone.
The Blue Jays excel at putting the ball in play, making them a formidable foe for a pitcher in Gilbert who had the highest strikeout rate in the American League this year. After tagging Gilbert for three runs (two earned) on five hits over three innings in Game 2, they poured on five runs (four earned) on seven hits over four-plus innings in Game 5 to again end the night early for the Mariners’ standout right-hander.
2. Mariners seeing double
Yesavage had only made three big-league appearances in the regular season and two in the postseason before Sunday, but in that time he had not gotten a single double-play grounder.
After Game 6 of the ALCS, he now has three.
After the Blue Jays tacked on the first two runs of the night in the second, the Mariners were threatening to respond when they loaded the bases with one out for their MVP contender. Two nights prior, it was Cal Raleigh’s game-tying home run in the eighth inning of Game 5 that set the scene for Eugenio Suarez’s late heroics.
But Raleigh wasn’t able to play the same role Sunday with another chance to put the Mariners back in the game’s driver’s seat. He got a splitter to hit in the zone from Yesavage and hit it hard but on the ground to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who started a 3-6-1 double play to escape.
That would become a theme.
The Mariners found themselves in the same spot an inning later with the bases loaded and one out. This time, another splitter from Yesavage was executed expertly low and out of the zone, getting J.P. Crawford to roll into an inning-ending double play.
In the fifth, Yesavage made it three straight inning-ending double plays when he got Julio Rodriguez to put one on the ground. The Mariners finished the night hitless in their lone two opportunities with runners in scoring position.
3. With chance to make franchise history, Mariners tighten up
It was the first time the Mariners had ever been within a game of advancing to the World Series in their franchise’s history.
And on Sunday night, Seattle looked like a team aware of that fact.
On offense, the Mariners grounded into three double plays. And on defense, they committed three errors.
Blue Jays capitalize on Mariners’ errors, scoring two runs and taking early lead
In the second inning, a hit in the gap from Daulton Varsho popped out of center fielder Julio Rodriguez’s glove, allowing time for Varsho to get to second. One batter later, Ernie Clement hit a hard grounder that popped out of third baseman Eugenio Suárez’s glove, allowing him to reach on the error and put two on. Both runners ended up scoring. Suárez made up for the earlier blunder with a brilliant diving play on a 116-mph grounder from Guerrero with the bases loaded to save some runs and end the inning, but the damage was done.
The uncharacteristic miscues would continue to plague the Mariners. In the third, Leo Rivas hit a ball off the right-field wall but was held to a single when J.P. Crawford was unable to get to third as he waited to see if the ball would be caught. The Mariners didn’t score in that frame.
In the seventh, it felt like the dagger when a ball kicked away from Raleigh, whose throw to third base was low and wide and sailed into left field, allowing the Blue Jays to add some breathing room as Guerrero came home to score.
4. That’s a Vlad man
Regardless of how Game 7 goes, Guerrero’s playoff display will live in his team’s history books.
Guerrero launched his postseason franchise record sixth home run of the postseason with a solo shot to start the fifth, ending Gilbert’s night and continuing to reward the Blue Jays for their $500 million commitment.
(Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Two innings later, he took off for third base, got in safely, then scooted home on a throwing error. He clapped his hands as he stepped on home plate, getting Toronto one step closer to their first World Series appearances since 1993.
The Blue Jays superstar was 2-for-4 on Sunday and is now slashing .447/.522/1.000 this postseason, leading all players in hits, homers and RBIs.
4 ½. What’s next?
While the Blue Jays took care of the Yankees in four games in the ALDS, Seattle needed all five games — and 15 innings in the deciding Game 5 — to dispose of the Tigers.
Now, if the Mariners want to make it to their franchise’s first ever World Series, they’ll have to go the distance again. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, are looking to make it to their first World Series in 32 years. The winner will face the Dodgers in the World Series.
‘Game 7, give it all you have’ 😤 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on Blue Jays CLUTCH win vs. Mariners
In that aforementioned ALDS Game 5, Mariners starters George Kirby, Gilbert and Luis Castillo all pitched. Expect all hands on deck once again. Teams that held a 3-2 series lead in a seven-game postseason series have won the series 69.6% of the time, including 70.8% of the time in the League Championship Series.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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