TORONTO -- Julio Rodríguez authored another epic October moment on Monday afternoon and gave the Mariners a tone-setting lead early in their eventual 10-3 win in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Seattle’s star center fielder ambushed Blue Jays right-hander Trey Yesavage with a three-run homer in the first inning, connecting on a 1-2 splitter that was way up in the zone and sending it directly down the left-field line and narrowly inside the foul pole.
The big blast came just after Randy Arozarena drew a hit-by-pitch and Cal Raleigh walked, both in full counts, to put Toronto’s rookie on high alert -- especially with the Mariners having the chance to take a commanding 2-0 series lead before this best-of-seven shifts to Seattle.
Teams that scored first in these playoffs entered play with a .567 win percentage (.668 all-time in the postseason), and on a historical level, teams that scored exactly three runs in the first inning have gone 85-31 (.733).
“It feels good, but like I said, it's one game at a time, and that's kind of our mentality,” Rodríguez said. “That's how we're taking it, because that's all we can control. And the way that we show up for the next game and just try to take care of your business.”
The Mariners wound up giving that lead away quickly, as Logan Gilbert surrendered three runs in his first two innings before departing after the third. But Jorge Polanco broke through with a tiebreaking homer in the fifth before the Mariners opened the floodgates late, putting them two wins away from their first World Series berth with the next three games in Seattle.
“Just stay in the moment,” Rodríguez said. “I feel like that's the only thing that went through my mind -- stay in the moment. And control what you can control. We knew we had a long ballgame ahead of us, that we needed to play more innings. And that was all that was going through my mind. Just stay in the moment and keep competing.”
On a Mariners-specific level, Rodríguez’s homer was only the franchise’s fourth in the first inning in the postseason -- and first since Raleigh went deep in Game 1 of the 2022 AL Wild Card Series, right here at Rogers Centre. That contest was also the last time the Mariners scored three or more runs in a playoff game, and they’d done so only once prior, when scoring four in the first inning of ALDS Game 2 in 2001 vs. Cleveland.
Rodríguez had cooled some since his game-winning hit vs. the Tigers in ALDS Game 2 in Seattle, going 0-for-14 with two walks and seven strikeouts over the final three games of that series. But things started to turn in ALCS Game 1, when he went 1-for-2 with two walks and scored the go-ahead run on Polanco’s double into left in a decisive sixth inning. Rodríguez had reached on a walk then advanced to second base on a wild pitch.
In Monday’s big moment, Rodríguez fell into an 0-2 count on two called strikes then watched ball one spike in the dirt before getting the one he could do damage with.
Yet Raleigh’s walk was just as vital, as he earned the free pass after spitting on a ton of close calls that were off the plate outside -- perhaps a sign of how Toronto will approach him as this series progresses. After all, he demolished a 420-foot, game-tying homer in Game 1, marking his 12th homer in 28 career games vs. the Blue Jays (regular season and postseason).
If the Blue Jays want to avoid Raleigh, they’ll still have to face Rodríguez -- who on his own can carry the Mariners’ lineup, too, as he did so early on Monday. Same goes for Polanco, who has firmly slotted into the cleanup spot behind Rodríguez and has had even more clutch moments in these playoffs.
It also showed that Yesavage, who was making just his fifth career start but dominated the Yankees in Toronto’s ALDS Game 2, is indeed human. He wound up being pulled just two batters before Polanco’s big homer but was responsible for leaving two runners on base that set up the big blast.