‘We don’t have to change anything’ Mariners feeling good ahead of Game 2 of ALCS

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The Seattle Mariners know the job isn’t done, but Monday night’s performance was a fine way to start.

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The team might not have swung the bats particularly well, but the pitching, led by Bryce Miller, was fantastic, the defence superb and the end result was putting the Toronto Blue Jays in a 1-0 hole in the American League Championship Series.

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And now they’re feeling good, though not overconfident, heading into Tuesday’s second game at Rogers Centre.

“Big opportunity,” said  third baseman Eugenio Suaraz in the Mariners locker room afterward. “We don’t have to change anything. Come in here with the same mentality, try to take that second one and go to Seattle 2-0.”

Toronto should have had Miller, who had the Mariner’s player of the game chain hanging in his locker, on the ropes after a long first inning that included George Springer’s leadoff homer, but couldn’t get close to him again and failed to connect off a depleted bullpen.

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And Jorge Polanco, Seattle’s cleanup hitter, who went hitless in 4-of-5 games to start Seattle’s playoffs, has come out of it now and then some. Polanco had won Friday’s marathon winner-take-all against Detroit in the 15th inning with a single and on Sunday he put the Mariners ahead with an RBI single in the sixth and then added an insurance run with another single in the eighth.

If the Mariners were tired from Friday’s near doubleheader, the ensuing party and the long flight, they didn’t show it.

“We try to play pitch-by-pitch just stay in the moment and play game-by-game,” Polanco explained.

And things went their way in the opener. Before Polanco’s first RBI hit Jays reliever Brendon Little had thrown a wild pitch to advance the runner to second and catcher Alejandro Kirk couldn’t squeeze a strike three pitch to Polanco, giving him another chance, which he took advantage of.

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Later, a pair of Randy Arozarena stolen bases set up the second Polanco RBI.

Suarez nearly hit a home run in the seventh, but it bounced off the top of the wall. Still, he was pleased with the hard contact, and, more importantly, with the end result.

“We came here to try to win both games. We got the first one today, we did a really good job … absolutely outstanding job of keeping the game close, and keep in the game and we did the little things so that’s why we won the game,” Suarez said.

“We did a real good job of preparing ourselves for this game. We did a good job and we got the (win).

“We’ve got to come in tomorrow with the same enregy, same mentality, try to take another one and come to Seattle with the advantage.”

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