SEATTLE — The Toronto Blue Jays pulled even in the American League Championship Series on Thursday, using vintage pitching from Max Scherzer and another offensive barrage to stifle the Seattle Mariners 8-2 in Game 4 at T-Mobile Park.

Scherzer, 41, worked 5 2/3 innings — the longest of his last six postseason starts — while allowing just three hits and two runs. For the second game in a row, the Blue Jays’ No. 9 hitter, Andrés Giménez, started Toronto’s scoring with a two-run homer. Giménez finished with four runs batted in, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is 6-for-9 in the two games here, also went deep again.

The series continues here on Friday at 3:08 PT/6:08 ET, and because both teams have won twice so far, it will continue at least through Game 6 on Sunday in Toronto.

Scherzer goes full Mad Max, shows why he’s a Hall of Famer

Scherzer hadn’t given the Blue Jays a great start in two months. He hadn’t made it through the fifth inning in the postseason since the NLDS in 2021. He’s 41 years old. Neck, thumb and back issues sidetracked much of his season. But when the Blue Jays needed Scherzer most, he proved why his visage likely will be featured in Cooperstown one day.

Every pitcher who reaches the big leagues is talented, but few do what Scherzer has done. They don’t win three Cy Youngs, two World Series rings and pitch for 18 years.

Scherzer’s decided difference, teammate Chris Bassitt said, is intensity and preparation. Those things don’t go away at 41. They made him great and allow him to access that greatness still.

Even when his velocity isn’t in the high-90s and his command isn’t pinpoint — he walked four in his outing against the Mariners — Scherzer still has an edge. That’s why the Blue Jays were confident in turning to him for his first start in weeks. That’s why you don’t doubt a Hall of Famer.

Blue Jays’ lineup depth is the stuff of World Series champions

George Springer and Guerrero are crucial to Toronto’s lineup. They’re the engines, the power and the guys on the posters. But the Blue Jays’ lineup might be one of the deepest in baseball.

When Ernie Clement is hitting almost .500, as he is this postseason, and Giménez is pulling balls into the bleachers, that group turns from productive depth to entirely terrifying. It’s the kind of thing that distinguishes real World Series contenders.

For the second straight night, Giménez vaulted the Jays back into a contest. He launched a score-tying blast in Wednesday’s third inning and followed on Thursday with another two-run homer. They were his first long balls since August and they came at an opportune time.

The Blue Jays owned the second-best bottom of the order in the American League this year, with their sixth to ninth hitters posting a 99 wRC+. The lineup depth helped carry the attack through the regular season. Now, it has helped the Blue Jays claw back in this series.

Wilson acted decisively with early hook for Castillo, but M’s bullpen couldn’t keep it close

In the third inning of Wednesday’s Game 3, George Kirby allowed a leadoff double to the No. 8 hitter, then a homer to Giménez. Mariners manager Dan Wilson let Kirby keep pitching into the fifth inning, long enough for him to tie a single-season postseason record with eight earned runs allowed.

In the third inning of Thursday’s Game 4, Luis Castillo allowed a leadoff double to the No. 8 hitter, and then a homer to Giménez. This time, Wilson activated his bullpen as Castillo waded through the next four batters, loading the bases for lefty Daulton Varsho.

Sensing a potential early turning point in the game, Wilson deployed his best lefty, Gabe Speier. After a leadoff walk forced in a run, Speier struck out Clement and Addison Barger, leaving the bases loaded and keeping the Mariners’ deficit at a reasonable two runs.

Alas, Wilson pushed too far with Speier in the fourth, trusting him against the righty Springer with a runner on second and one out. Speier held righties to a .203 average this season, but Springer drilled a slider over the middle for a run-scoring double. He scored to make it 5-1 when another reliever, Matt Brash, spiked a slider for a wild pitch.

The ’25 Blue Jays have a clear team to emulate — the ’96 Yankees

The last time the Blue Jays reached the World Series, in 1993, the ALCS followed this same pattern, with the home team losing each of the first four games.

In that instance, though, it was Toronto jumping to the early lead with two road wins over the White Sox in Chicago. When the series shifted north of the border, the White Sox tied it up. Toronto then took Game 5 at home and wrapped things up in Game 6 in Chicago behind ALCS MVP Dave Stewart, a reliable October titan.

Ideally, the Blue Jays want to follow the lead of the last team to lose the first two games of a best-of-seven series at home and come back to win. That was the 1996 New York Yankees, who dropped Games 1 and 2 of the World Series in the Bronx, then swept the Braves in Atlanta and returned home to clinch in Game 6.