After late dramatics, Mariners 1 win away from 1st trip to World Series
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SEATTLE – The difference between history and heartbreak can come down to a few feet of flight, and both were on display in the eighth inning of Friday’s Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. One ball is caught at the wall, another just clears it and everything changes.
Down to their final six outs, Cal Raleigh's homer pulled the Mariners even before Eugenio Suárez got out the rye bread and mustard, blowing the top off T-Mobile Park with an opposite-field grand slam that fueled Seattle’s 6-2 victory over the Blue Jays.
At long last, the Emerald City had a reason to roar. The Mariners not only notched their first home ALCS victory since 2000, but they’ve regained control of this heavyweight matchup -- now standing one win from the first World Series appearance in franchise history.
“I have a good amount of beautiful moments in my career, but today is something else,” Suárez said. “To hit that grand slam and help my team win a big game here in front of our fans, they have been waiting for a long time. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole career.”
Ernie Clement’s run-scoring single had given Toronto a sixth-inning lead, and the infielder thought he might have extended it with a 363-foot drive off Gabe Speier in the eighth. It sent Randy Arozarena to the wall, where the left fielder snagged it with a leaping grab, keeping the score 2-1, which would matter greatly in the bottom of the inning.
“I knew he hit it good,” Speier said. “I saw Randy trickling back, so I thought that he might have a chance to make a play. And then I saw him leave his feet and make the catch. I just threw my arms up, super happy that he made the play. It was a crazy moment.”
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Raleigh’s homer in the bottom of the frame didn’t travel as far (348 feet), but it went higher and to the right spot -- a 93.5 mph Brendon Little sinker swatted down the left-field line. It was Raleigh’s fourth blast of the postseason, following a regular season in which the switch-hitting MVP candidate belted 60.
“When I hit the ball, I thought I got it, and then obviously realized it went so high,” Raleigh said. “So [with] the roof open, maybe it’s a different result -- I don't know. But I’m glad I got enough of that one.”
Two walks and a hit-by-pitch followed before Suárez -- who had homered in the second to give the Mariners an early 1-0 lead -- crushed a Seranthony Domínguez four-seamer to right field, earning a place alongside vaunted company: He joined Edgar Martinez (1995 ALDS Game 4) as the only Mariners to connect for postseason grand slams.
“You can't say enough about just how good it must feel for Geno, picking up those five RBIs for us today and giving us a victory,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “This was just a great day for him.”
In any best-of-seven postseason series tied 2-2, the team that has won Game 5 has also gone on to win the series 46 of 67 times (68.9%). In series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams winning Game 5 at home to take a 3-2 lead out on the road have won the series 20 of 33 times (60.6%).
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“I don't want these guys to crawl into a hole; that's not who we are,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “We'll get after it on Sunday. We'll be ready to play. I wouldn't have it any other way with this group.”
Kevin Gausman shone in a rematch of the Game 1 starters, outpitching Bryce Miller, who was lifted after just four-plus innings and 56 pitches. Gausman allowed only Suárez’s second-inning solo homer, tossing 5 2/3 frames behind his trademark fastball-splitter mix.
Clement was also involved in a fourth-inning oddity, seeing the Mariners escape from a bases-loaded, none-out jam. Raleigh smothered a Clement tapper in front of the plate, touched his back foot on home for a forceout, then fired to first base to complete a double play.
“To be honest, we dodged a lot of bullets today,” Raleigh said. “It’s what you’ve got to do.”
Miller’s outing was done after Addison Barger’s leadoff hit in the fifth, a move ripe for second-guessing at the time. Facing Matt Brash, George Springer ripped a run-scoring two-out double to left-center field, pumping both arms and yelling, “Let’s go!”
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Bryan Woo, making his first appearance since Sept. 19 due to pectoral inflammation, took over in the sixth. His return was rocky: Alejandro Kirk greeted him with a first-pitch double, then came home on Clement’s single, with Dominic Canzone’s throw from right field veering up the line.
“They hit his fastball, which is his best pitch,” Raleigh said. “But those were two big innings.”
There were long faces outside the visiting clubhouse; inside the walls, several Blue Jays repeated a variation of Gausman’s refrain: “We did our job here.”
“A lot of us were talking about a three-game series, so we had to win this series to go back to Toronto. We did,” Gausman said. “It’s a tough loss, obviously, to lose the way we did. But these guys are resilient. There’s no group I believe in more than the guys in that room.”
That may provide comfort for the flight home to Canada; there have been plenty of times this year when they’ve overcome adversity -- and even more when they’ve won back-to-back games. But the Mariners plan to have something to say about that.
“I just feel so grateful right now,” Suárez said, “and feel so good, because we’re going to Toronto with an opportunity in front of us to go to a World Series.”