TORONTO – The Seattle Mariners will be sailing in uncharted waters Sunday night when they visit the Toronto Blue Jays for Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.
The Mariners can shed the albatross of never having reached the World Series with a victory.
They took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series on Friday night with a dramatic 6-2 comeback 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 the excitement of Friday.
“Our guys have done a great job of it, staying focused, and we know that we have to stay focused on the task at hand and there’s still work to do,” Wilson said on Saturday. “Get our minds back where we need to be.”
The Blue Jays and Mariners entered the league in 1977. Toronto won consecutive World Series in 1992-93.
“We’re trying to win one game in a row,” Toronto manager John Schneider said on Saturday. “We’ve done that 99 times this year.”
Right-hander Logan Gilbert (1-0, 2.45 ERA) is the scheduled 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 was won 10-3 by Seattle.
The Mariners arrived in Toronto bolstered by their Game 5 comeback.
“You’ve got to ride the momentum when it’s there,” Gilbert said on Saturday.
Gilbert was 0-2 with a 5.24 ERA in six career starts against Toronto prior to the ALCS. He is 0-0, 3.86, against them in one regular-season start this year.
“Just to get to this point is amazing,” Gilbert said. “But to be the one to have the ball, you grow up dreaming of moments like this, and you don’t know how many you will get over the course of your career. Some guys never get this. So it’s a really big deal.”
It will be a rematch of Game 2 starters with Toronto slated to start right-hander Trey Yesavage (1-1, 4.82) for the second time in the series.
Yesavage took 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 over 5 1/3 scoreless innings against the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
“He’s pitched in a lot of big games and he’s performed well,” Schneider said. “This opportunity does not come up very often,” Yesavage said. “I’m very blessed to be in this situation.”
Yesavage said that veteran Toronto starter Kevin Gausman told him this is the deepest that he has gone into the postseason.
Schneider is being criticized for his choice of relievers in the eighth inning to protect a 2-1 lead. Brendon Little started 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 among the bullpen options.
“It’s part of the game,” Schneider said. “Every decision you make that doesn’t work out, you regret. I trust my players. I stick by my players.”
The Blue Jays are hopeful about George Springer’s status on Sunday after he left Game 5 when he was hit on the right knee by a Bryan Woo fastball. X-rays on Springer’s knee were negative.
“We’re hopeful and optimistic he’ll be good to go,” Schneider said.
-Larry Millson, Field Level Media
