Featured ALCS X-Factors
USAT’s Gabe Lux shares the biggest negative factors that could play a key role in the ALCS when the Blue Jays take on the Mariners.
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The Seattle Mariners were on the brink of elimination with six outs left and were on the verge of returning to Canada, but they fought back and produced two of the biggest swings in franchise history.
Game 5 of the American League Championship Series was tied in the bottom of the 8th inning on Cal Lowry’s go-ahead home run, and after three batters, Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam into the opposing field, giving the Mariners a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at T-Mobile Park.
Suddenly, the Mariners have a 3-2 lead in this ALCS, two chances to win the ALCS’ first pennant, and advance to the first World Series in franchise history. The game will be played on October 6, 2019 at the Rogers Center in Toronto.
They never needed one more win to advance to the World Series. And if not for his heroics in the bottom of the eighth inning, that task would have been even more daunting.
The Mariners were on the verge of losing to Seattle with three games left, but Blue Jays manager John Schneider hit left-hander Brendon Little to start the game in the eighth inning and got the lead they needed.
Game 1 ended in a fiasco, allowing a run on a transfer pitch and giving up another run, but Schneider thought that by changing the direction of the switch-hitter Lowry, he could alleviate his great power.
Instead, Lowry earned the spot for the 64th time this season. Tie game. Mr. Bedlam’s reign at T-Mobile was just the beginning.
Facing two more batters, Little walked them both and right-hander Seranthony Dominguez was called for, but he hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch.
Acquired in a late-season trade, Suarez was beloved from his first stint with the Mariners, taking the lead with a homer in the second inning. He hit Dominguez’s 98 mph fastball straight to the right, and the Mariners advanced to the brink of a pennant.
Here’s how Game 5 will play out:
The Mariners didn’t end it with Cal Lowry’s game-tying homer in the 8th inning, with two walks and one batter hit, the bases loaded with no outs.
Eugenio Suarez, facing Seranthony Dominguez, hit an inverted grand slam to give the Mariners a 6-2 advantage. T-Mobile Park is at its best in Seattle.
It may go down as the biggest hit in Mariners history.
The Big Dumper wasn’t going to overwhelm the Seattle Mariners without playing them at home.
Lowry, a right-handed hitter for the first time in the American League Championship Series, hit a home run just over the fence into the left field seats in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 5, tying the score at 2-1.
With six outs left and Toronto leading 3-2 in the ALCS and on the verge of heading back to Canada, Lowry was upset when the Blue Jays started Brendon Little in the eighth inning. In Seattle’s Game 1 win against Toronto, he rarely allowed the runner he took over to score, and Lowry was quick to punish him.
George Springer, one of the Toronto Blue Jays’ most powerful offensive weapons, left Game 5 of the American League Championship Series after being hit in the right knee by a pitch from Brian Wu.
Springer, who put the Blue Jays ahead with an RBI double in the fifth inning, doubled in pain shortly after Wu’s 95.6 mph sinker hit his knee.
Brian Wu’s first pitching since September was a disappointing result. And the Toronto Blue Jays weren’t exactly in a forgiving mood either.
Wu, the Mariners’ ace who had to recover from a chest injury late in the season, gave up a first-pitch double to Alejandro Kirk and an RBI single to Ernie Clement as the Blue Jays led 2-1 in the sixth inning of Game 5 of the ALCS.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Guzman has thrown 78 pitches and allowed just three hits through the first five innings, while the Mariners have already gone deep into the bullpen twice.
Dan Wilson moved aggressively to keep the Toronto Blue Jays from ambushing starting pitcher Bryce Miller. However, the move backfired and the Seattle Mariners had to put together four more innings from a shaky bullpen in a tied game.
The Mariners manager snagged Miller in the fifth inning, even though he pitched four shutout innings and threw just 56 pitches. However, top setup man Matt Blasch was unable to maintain his batting order, and with two outs, he allowed an RBI double to George Springer, leading to the bottom of the fifth inning tied at 1-1.
Miller faced one batter in the fifth inning, giving up a bloop single to Addison Berger, and Brash recorded two quick outs, but ran into trouble when the batting line turned over.
Springer narrowly missed a two-run homer and nearly gave the Blue Jays another big score after Nathan Rooks walked and brought in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. However, Guerrero, who was trailing 3-1 in the count, missed a nasty slider and was unable to catch up with a 96 mph sinker to end the inning.
The Seattle Mariners hit a solo home run in the second inning for the second consecutive game. Now, the hard part is getting it to stand.
In Game 5 of the ALCS, Eugenio Suarez hit a solo home run off Kevin Guzman to take the lead, and the series was decided 2-2.
This will be the Mariners’ last chance to win at home, having lost both games at T-Mobile Park. In Game 4, Josh Naylor hit a home run off Max Scherzer, but in the end, the Blue Jays’ batting lineup outmaneuvered the Mariners’ pitchers, giving Toronto an 8-2 victory.
So far, Bryce Miller has been up to the task with three strikeouts in two innings.
Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-out double in the top of the first inning, but Mariners starter Bryce Miller came back and struck out Alejandro Kirk to end the inning and strand runners in scoring position.
Seattle third baseman Eugenio Suarez made a nice over-the-shoulder catch early in the frame.
- George Springer (R) DH
- Nathan Rooks (left) LF
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
- Alejandro Kirk (R) C
- Dalton Varsho (left) CF
- Ernie Clement(R) 3B
- Addison Berger (L) RF
- Isaiah Kinner Children(R) 2B
- Andres Jimenez (left) SS
- Julio Rodriguez (R) CF
- Cal Lowry (S) C
- Jorge Polanco (S) DH
- Josh Naylor (left) 1B
- Randy Arozarena (R) LF
- Eugenio Suarez (R) 3B
- JP Crawford (L) SS
- Dominic Canzone (L) RF
- Leo Rivas(S) 2B
“I think this is very representative of where we are during the season. The series is two out of three at the moment, and we’ve had success many times in two out of three series.”
“I think our guys know what it takes to compete from this position. That’s been kind of the key to our entire season, really, their resiliency, their ability to fight back, fight hard, fight from first to ninth innings. And that’s really going to be front and center these last few games. I’m comfortable and I think they’re comfortable in that environment.”
Toronto’s 41-year-old Max Scherzer won Game 4, and the three-time Cy Young Award winner looked just like himself, yelling at Blue Jays manager John Schneider to keep him in the game, much to the delight of third baseman Ernie Clement.
“I’ve been watching baseball for the last 15 years or whatever and I’ve watched it on TV. He’s so fired up, he wants to go out there and he wants to kick your ass,” Clement told reporters before Game 5.
“I couldn’t help but laugh. It was so funny because when he comes out, he flips a switch and goes back to being this fun-loving jokester. He seems to have two personalities. It’s hysterical. So I was really happy that he got the job done.”
