The notion of clinching their first-ever berth in the World Series this week in front of their home fans ended Thursday evening. Any hasty plans for an overdone Champagne celebration at T-Mobile Park featuring Humpy the Salmon should have been incinerated after the drubbing they absorbed 24 hours earlier.
The now-questionable thinking they might end the American League Championship Series in five games or fewer has been replaced by the realization of a guaranteed return trip to Canada — something nobody associated with the Mariners wanted to happen.
All the feel-good stories about a moribund franchise finally getting it right and breaking through in the postseason might have been a little premature. After winning the first two games in Toronto, building the growing hype into hysteria, everything about their play since returning to Seattle has been the complete opposite.
For the second straight night, the Mariners got an abbreviated outing from their starting pitcher, played from behind after taking a second-inning lead and made just enough mistakes to not allow themselves to come back in what would be an 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays.
AL championship series
Mariners 2, Blue Jays 2
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The American League Championship Series is now tied at two games apiece. And any debate as to how many games it will take for the Mariners to win the seven-game series should be whether they will get swept in their three games at home and if they can find a way to win the seven-game series.
“No one said it was going to be easy,” J.P. Crawford said. “We’ve got to do our best to flush these two days and look forward to tomorrow.”
It’s not just that the Mariners lost the first two games in Seattle, but the scores turned so lopsided that they basically punted on the outcome in the later innings to save pitching in hopes of winning the next day.
Well, the next day is now. Game 5 will feature a rematch of the starters in Game 1 with Toronto sending ace Kevin Gausman to the mound, while Bryce Miller will start for Seattle.
Can you think of a more important non-elimination game in Mariners history?
“Baseball is a cruel game sometimes, but we’ve got to keep pushing forward,” Crawford said. “We all know what’s at stake here.”
Of course, if the Mariners go out and pick up a solid win over the Blue Jays on Friday afternoon, “all is well” again. The M’s would be one win away from baseball’s biggest stage.
“It’s just about keeping a level head, understanding you don’t get too high, don’t get too low and that it’s now a best-of-three,” said catcher Cal Raleigh.
But if they play like they have over the past two games and lose Game 5, then the growing panic and rage will turn to fatalistic defeat with expected elimination.
“Obviously, we wanted to get a couple of wins here in the series at home,” manager Dan Wilson said. “We haven’t been able to do that. But tomorrow we have a chance to bounce back, and that’s where our focus is going forward.”
Similar to their loss a day earlier, Thursday’s game shifted in the third inning when Andrés Giménez, the Blue Jays’ No. 9 hitter, hit an unexpected two-run homer to spark Toronto.
After working the first two innings scoreless, Luis Castillo allowed a leadoff single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa to bring Giménez to the plate. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Castillo left a non-breaking slider over the middle of the plate. Giménez pounded it into the seats in right field. It was the second straight game in which Giménez, who hit seven homers in the regular season, changed the game with a two-run home run in the third.
Castillo wouldn’t finish the inning. After serving up the homer, he got George Springer to hit a hard ground out to shortstop. It was the only out he’d record in the inning. Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit rocket singles on pitches left over the middle, and Alejandro Kirk worked a walk to load the bases.
“They’re a good team, and when you when you leave pitches in the middle, they usually take advantage,” Raleigh said. “So we’ve just got to do a better job of executing.”
With the left-handed hitting Daulton Varsho coming to the plate, Wilson went to his leverage relievers, who didn’t pitch in the Game 3 drubbing.
“We talked about it beforehand, that we had the ability tonight to be aggressive with the bullpen. And in that situation, Gabe (Speier) was ready to go, and it was a good matchup for us and we felt like that was a time to go,” Wilson said.
He had an extended conversation with Castillo on the mound before making the pitching change. The veteran starter wore a bemused look as if to say, “Are you kidding me with this?”
“It’s a tough decision and it was not an easy one and not an easy one to tell him,” Wilson said. “But that’s what we went with and just an opportunity to let him know.”
Castillo didn’t comment on the decision because he wasn’t in the clubhouse postgame. It was clear he wasn’t pleased.
Speier came in with the aim to retire Varsho and quell the momentum. Instead, he walked him to force in a run and give the Blue Jays a lead they’d never relinquish. Speier came back to strike out Ernie Clement and Addison Barger to end the inning.
Wilson brought Speier back out for the fourth inning, which was expected with Giménez scheduled to bat second. Kiner-Falefa won an eight-pitch battle, leading off with a bloop single to right-center. Giménez didn’t homer, but instead sacrifice-bunted the runner into scoring position.
With first base open and Springer coming to the plate, Wilson opted to stay with Speier, who had thrown 26 pitches, despite having Matt Brash warming in the bullpen. Since Springer has hit right-handed pitchers better in his career and had significant reverse splits this season, Wilson opted to stay with the lefty.
“You make decisions and you’ve got to live with them,” Wilson said. “I still thought he was throwing the ball well, but Springer was able to get him.”
Springer doubled into the left field corner to make it 4-2. Speier finished the inning by retiring the next two hitters. He threw a total of 32 pitches in his outing — the most in an appearance this season.
While the Blue Jays were building their 5-1 lead, the Mariners were helping Max Scherzer turn back time. A future Hall of Famer, Scherzer didn’t pitch in the wild-card round and hadn’t made a start since Aug. 19. In the interim, he’d been throwing simulated games to stay ready.
But in his 31st postseason appearance of his career, the 41-year-old Scherzer got the win, pitching 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with four walks and five strikeouts. He wasn’t the overpowering dominator of past years, but he took advantage of the Mariners’ willingness to chase pitches out of the zone while chasing hits. He allowed a solo homer to Josh Naylor in the second inning and the second run charged to him came after he was out of the game.
Seattle helped him out by generally being a little too swing-happy at certain points in the game and making two outs on the bases to kill potential rallies. After working a leadoff walk to start the third inning, Leo Rivas was picked off at first base.
In the sixth inning after Eugenio Suárez’s single to right field to score Jorge Polanco for Seattle’s second run, cutting the lead to 5-2, Naylor was thrown out by Barger trying to advance to third on the play, ending the inning.
“We tend to be aggressive,” Wilsons said. “Sometimes when we’re aggressive, it can backfire.”
The Blue Jays tacked on more runs as Guerrero Jr. hit a solo homer to right off Eduard Bazardo in the seventh and Giménez drove in two more runs with a single off Emerson Hancock in the eighth.