Mariners strike first as Blue Jays bats listless in ALCS opener

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It was, in so many ways what the ratcheted stakes of baseball the deeper you go into October brings you.

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Tension. Drama. And on this night, anyway, not a lot of offence.

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But man, did Game 1 of the best-of-seven ALCS between the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners start with a bang before a sellout crowd of 44,474 at the Rogers Centre on Sunday night.

The first pitch faced by a Toronto hitter — the rejuvenated George Springer — caused an eruption under the closed roof as the Jays started their first trip to the this round of the MLB post season since 2016 at full volume.

Unfortunately, that was the only contact of consequence to exit a Blue Jays bat as the dangerous Mariners team struck first, with a clinical 3-1 win.

For much of the night, it was a gripping battle between the 1977 expansion cousins, a tight game that turned into a pitching duel through six innings.

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But the margins are tight this year and when the big bat of Cal Raleigh unleashed a 420-foot bomb to right-centre, the Jays would never lead again.

Toronto starter Kevin Gausman, who had been brilliant to that point, knew the mistake at the crack of the bat putting his hands on his head and punching his glove. And after retiring 15 in a row suddenly the Jays lost the team’s only lead of the night.

“I thought I was pitching pretty well, and last two guys I faced was a home run and a walk,” Gausman said afterwards. “So not too happy about that.  I’m more upset with walking Julio (Rodriguez) right after that. And obviously that was the difference maker.”

Our takeaways from a compelling night of playoff baseball that gave an indication of the battle the Jays have in front of them.

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RUN STARVED

The big mood killer on the night for the Jays — who were looking to take advantage of a weary Mariners team — was the inability to get any traction at the plate.

An offence that belted out 34 runs in four games against the Yankees was all-out to generate much against Mariners starter Bryce Miller once he recovered from the ringing in his ears following the Springer blast.

In fact, Miller, who isn’t exactly the most feared arm in the Mariners rotation, shut down the Jays after that. After his first pitch of the game, Miller allowed just one hit and no more runs, giving his weary team six big innings. Miller had only thrown one quality start all season prior to Sunday.

The Jays offence that was firing so impressively against the Yankees, never gained any momentum. And this on a night when the Mariners should have been their most vulnerable given it began little more than 40 hours after their 15-inning Game 5 marathon win over the Detroit Tigers ended back in Seattle.

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Besides the Springer homer, the only Jays hit was a harmless single from Anthony Santander in the second. It was the team’s fewest hits ever in a playoff game.

DUMPING ON THE DUMPER

The history of contentious words between Jays manager John Schneider and M’s slugger (Big Dumper) Raleigh were a nice sidelight entering this year’s ALCS.

But as soon as Schneider mentioned in his pregame press conference on Sunday that he didn’t want “That to be a narrative in the series at all,” didn’t you have the feeling it just might?

Sure enough, it was Raleigh, he of the 60 regular season home runs, who spoiled Gausman’s big effort. The mammoth solo homer in the sixth was the Mariners first run of the game. When the next Mariners batter, Julio Rodriguez, walked, Gausman’s night was done. After the first Jays reliever in the game, Brendon Little, struggled, an RBI single from Jorge Polanco would stand up as the game winner.

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But back to the fun stuff.

The verbal sparring between the two principals dates back to 2023 when Schneider dismissed Raleigh’s two homer night against the Jays.

“He’s not very tough to pitch to when you execute your pitches,” Schneider said. “He’s hitting .200.”

Afterwards, Raleigh shot back with this: “I don’t have much to say. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say if you don’t want it to come back on you.”

Welcome to the bright lights of the ALCS, where everything old is new again, fair or unfair.

“For one, that was me as interim manager saying what I said to try to fire up my team, which I obviously shouldn’t have said,” Schneider said on Sunday. “I’ve got a ton of respect for him as a player. You have to be aware of where he is at all times.”

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OPPORTUNITY LOST?

The Jays might not articulate it as such, but it was clearly an opportunity that got away from them in Game 1.

Not only were the Mariners as a whole weary, the bullpen was depleted from the big clincher back home. And after a first inning in which they scored a run and forced Miller to throw 27 pitches, the opportunity was even stronger.

“This pitching staff has good stuff,” Schneider said. “He’s definitely one of them and I think he did a good job of flipping the script.”

As for the benign attack, there wasn’t much Jays hitters could say beyond a shoulder shrug of a response.

“Just one game, I mean we haven’t lost a series,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said. “We will flush this one and come back tomorrow.”

That might not be as easy as the Jays hope given the 5:03 scheduled first pitch and the fact that the Mariners survived what had to be one of the most physically harsh tests they will face.

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“This is going to be a hard-fought series, man,” Schneider said. “These guys will be ready for it. We’re trying to figure out a way to win four and I think (Game 2 starter Trey Yesavage) will be up for it.

“I think our guys will be up for the challenge to show what we’ve been doing all year offensively tomorrow as well.”

SO WHAT NOW?

Hit, hit and hit.

Being held to just two hits against the Mariners, despite the boisterous home crowd at their back, was the fewest in franchise history for the Jays, one worse than the previous low of three the managed in Game 1 of the 2015 ALCS at Kansas City and Game 2 of the 2016 ALCS at Cleveland.

It’s far from panic time, of course, especially for a team that has shown its resolve all season. But the pressure will be on early on Friday to give rookie starter Yesavage a lead.

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The Jays will face Mariners starter Logan Gilbert, who pitched two scoreless innings in the 15-inning clincher against the Tigers. In his one outing against the Jays this season, the right hander alloowed nine baserunners in 4.2 innings of work. He has had a solid post-season, however, pitching eight innings and allowing just one earned run.

The Mariners must feel they swiped one from the Jays to get the important early strike in the series.

“Getting Game 1 is obviously a big momentum shift for us,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “This was a good win up and down, coming back after that long one (in Game 5 against the Tigers) and a travel day.”

Getting that first strike against a team with a profound dome-field advantage – a 54-27 that was best in the American League – only added to the value of he Game 1 triumph.

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AROUND THE BASES

The Jays lost right fielder Nathan Lukes to what the team described as a right knee contusion after he fouled a ball off the knee during an at-bat. Schneider said afterwards that an MRI came back negative for a fracture … The Springer dinger back to open things was the first leadoff home run in Blue Jays post-season history … While the Mariners offence wasn’t exactly on fire, they did manage seven hits against the Jays … The Mariners have now won their past three post-season appearances in Toronto after sweeping the best-of-three wildcard series here in 2022 … The Jays are now 2-6 all-time in Game 1 of the ALCS, including a 1-2 record when hosting Game 1 and are 0-2 when playing Game 1 of the ALCS at the Rogers Centre.

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