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TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 13: Jorge Polanco #7 of the Seattle Mariners hits a three-run home run in the fifth inning during Game Two of the American League Championship Series presented by loanDepot between the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos / Getty Images)
The Seattle Mariners have a new Mr. October.
Come on down, Jorge Polanco.
Polanco delivered a go-ahead three-run home run off Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland in the fifth inning of Game 2 as the Mariners seized control of the ALCS with a 10-3 romp in Toronto on Monday.
That marks three consecutive playoff games for Seattle where Polanco has authored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning or later. According to OptaStats, Polanco is the first player in MLB history to accomplish such a feat.
After his three-run blast, Polanco had seven hits in the postseason for Seattle. Six of them had driven in runs. He’s delivered in nearly every opportunity and now sends the Mariners back to Seattle with a 2-0 lead in an ALCS for the first time in franchise history.
Polanco, Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor all had multi-run homers as part of an offensive onslaught north of the border. But Polanco’s was the biggest of them all.
The Mariners pounced early on rookie starter Trey Yesavage for the Blue Jays, but saw the lead slip away with a shaky outing of their own from starter Logan Gilbert.
Rodríguez hit a three-run home run off Yesavage before the Mariners recorded their first out for a quick 3-0 lead.
Rodríguez crushed a hanging splitter and drove it into the left field seats for an early haymaker for Seattle.
A little help from home plate umpire Doug Eddings aided the Mariners in grabbing the early lead.
Yesavage believed he had struck out Arozarena with a 1-2 slider that painted the outside corner of the plate only for Eddings to call it ball two. Even Arozarena took two steps toward the Seattle dugout as he believed the same. Instead, Yesavage hit Arozarena with a pitch to put the lead-off runner aboard.
Yesavage followed with a walk of Cal Raleigh to put two on with no outs before Rodríguez’s blast gave Seattle the lead.
It was a sign of things to come for the home plate umpire, who missed multiple calls – for both teams – throughout the contest.
George Springer ripped a lead-off double off the wall in left-center field a pitch after hooking a potential home run just foul down the left field line. An infield chopper from Nathan Lukes forced a tough play for Naylor, who shoveled a throw wide of Gilbert covering first as Springer scored the first run for Toronto.
Lukes advanced to second on the error as well and moved to third on a groundout from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. A two-out single from Alejandro Kirk scored Lukes as Seattle’s lead was trimmed to just a run, 3-2, at the end of the first.
Lukes delivered again in the second inning, coming through with a two-out RBI single to right field off Gilbert to tie the game at 3-3.
Ernie Clement singled and advanced to third on groundouts from Davis Schneider and Andrés Giménez.
Where Eddings aided the Mariners in the first inning with a missed call, he missed two more to help the Blue Jays in the second.
A 2-2 fastball and a 3-2 slider from Gilbert both appeared to find the strike zone, but were called balls by Eddings as George Springer walked with two outs. While Gilbert should have been out of the inning, Lukes singled to right field to score Clement to even the game at 3-3.
Gilbert got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground out to second base to get out of the jam without further damage after a nine-pitch battle.
Gilbert tossed a clean third inning, but wouldn’t go any further for Seattle. Pitching on just two days rest since his relief efforts in Game 5 of the ALDS, Gilbert threw 58 pitches with 39 strikes, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
But like they did in Game 5 against the Detroit Tigers, the bullpen picked up the slack and dominated the rest of the contest for Seattle. Eduard Bazardo, Carlos Vargas and Emerson Hancock backstopped Gilbert with two innings apiece, allowing just one hit with four walks (three from Hancock) and three strikeouts.
The Blue Jays have managed just one hit – Lukes’ single off Bazardo in the fifth inning – after the second inning in either of the first two games of the series.
The Mariners put two runners on against Yesavage again in the fifth inning to set the stage for Polanco.
Randy Arozarena singled and advanced to second on a throwing error from shortstop Andrés Giménez. Blue Jays manager John Schneider intentionally walked Raleigh to keep him from being the one to get them, and Polanco delivered instead. After a Rodríguez strikeout, Polanco turned a 98 mph fastball from Varland and drove it to deep center field for a home run and a three-run lead.
The Mariners added on from there against Toronto’s bullpen.
Mitch Garver delivered a pinch-hit lead-off triple off Blue Jays left-hander Mason Fluharty in the sixth inning as center fielder Daulton Varsho got turned around and misplayed the ball off the wall. J.P. Crawford flipped a one-out single to left field off Fluharty to score pinch-runner Leo Rivas for a 7-3 lead.
Garver – yes, Mitch Garver – joins Vince Coleman, Mark McLemore, Al Martin and Julio Rodríguez as Mariners with triples in the postseason.
Naylor, a native of Mississauga, Ontario, then hit his two-run blast off Braydon Fisher in the seventh for a 9-3 lead. Yariel Rodríguez replaced Fisher and walked the bases loaded before Crawford’s sacrifice fly scored Eugenio Suárez for the final run of the game.
The Mariners are now as close as they’ve ever been to making the World Series, holding a two-game advantage with the series returning to Seattle on Wednesday.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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