TORONTO – The Seattle Mariners will navigate uncharted waters Sunday night when they visit the Toronto Blue Jays for Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.
The Mariners can shake off the albatross of never having reached the World Series with a win.
They took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series Friday night with a dramatic 6-2 win.
Seattle scored five runs in the eighth inning on a solo home run by Cal Raleigh and a grand slam by Eugenio Suarez.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson wants his team to stay focused on Game 6 after Friday’s excitement.
“Our guys have done a great job, staying focused, and we know we have to stay focused on the task at hand and there’s still work to do,” Wilson said Saturday. “Let’s get our minds back to where we need to be.”
The Blue Jays and Mariners entered the league in 1977. Toronto won back-to-back World Series in 1992-93.
“We’re trying to win a game in a row,” Toronto manager John Schneider said Saturday. “We’ve done it 99 times this year.”
Right-hander Logan Gilbert (1-0, 2.45 ERA) is the projected starter for the Mariners. He allowed three runs (two earned), five hits and one walk with two strikeouts in three innings in Game 2, which Seattle won 10-3.
The Mariners arrived in Toronto strengthened by their comeback in Game 5.
“You have to take advantage of the momentum when it’s there,” Gilbert said Saturday.
Gilbert was 0-2 with a 5.24 ERA in six career starts against Toronto before the ALCS. He is 0-0, 3.86, against them in just one regular season start this year.
“To get to this point is incredible,” Gilbert said. “But to get the ball, you grow up dreaming of moments like this, and you don’t know how many you’ll have in your career. Some guys never get there. So it’s a really big deal.”
It will be a rematch of the starters from the second game with Toronto which should start right-hander Trey Yesavage (1-1, 4.82) for the second time in the series.
Yesavage suffered the loss in Game 2 when he allowed five runs, four hits and three walks with four strikeouts in four-plus innings. He made his major league debut in September. His postseason debut was an 11-strikeout performance in 5 1/3 scoreless innings against the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
“He’s been in a lot of big games and he’s performed well,” Schneider said. “This opportunity doesn’t come around very often,” Yesavage said. “I’m very lucky to be in this situation.”
Yesavage said veteran Toronto starter Kevin Gausman told him it was the deepest moment he’s had in the playoffs.
Schneider is criticized for his choice of relievers in the eighth inning to protect a 2-1 lead. Brendon Little led off the inning and allowed Raleigh’s home run and two walks before Seranthony Dominguez hit a batter and gave up Suarez’s slam. Closer Jeff Hoffman was listed as a bullpen option.
“It’s part of the game,” Schneider said. “Every decision you make that doesn’t work, you regret it. I trust my players. I stay by their side.”
The Blue Jays are hopeful about the status of George Springer on Sunday after leaving Game 5 when he was hit in the right knee by a Bryan Woo fastball. X-rays of Springer’s knee were negative.
“We are hopeful and optimistic that he will be ready to go,” Schneider said.
-Larry Millson, Field Media
