Venezuela’s Andres Gimenez, Dominican Republic’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Mexico’s Alejandro Kirk knocked the ball out of the park to lead a five-home run attack by the Toronto Blue Jays, who beat the Seattle Mariners 4-13 on Wednesday for their first win in the MLB American League Championship Series.
The Blue Jays (1-2), who had been limited to just 4 runs in the first 2 games of this series, counted on the offensive awakening of Guerrero Jr., who was perfect in 4 at-bats and scored 3 runs.
Seattle continues to lead in the series
Despite the loss, the Mariners remain ahead (2-1) in the best-of-seven-game MLB American League Championship Series.
In the game, Dominican Julio Rodríguez opened the scoring and put the Mariners ahead with a two-run homer off right-hander Shane Bieber, who opened for the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays’ response came in the third episode when they scored five runs, the first of them on Gimenez’s two-run home run off George Kirby, who started the game for the Mariners.
The visitors continued their attack in the third inning, when they added 3 more scores:
The first was an uncontrolled pitching error by Kirby, which allowed Nathan Lukes to score from the basepath, and the other two were doubles by Daulton Varsho, with which Guerrero Jr. and Kirk advanced to the register.
Blue Jays unleash devastating offensive
The Blue Jays extended their lead in the fourth act when George Springer deposited the ball into the center field bleachers for his 22nd career postseason home run.
He tied Puerto Rico’s Bernie Williams for fourth place all-time at this stage of the MLB campaign.
Guerrero Jr. started the fifth act with his fourth home run of the postseason, which left the ground over the center field fence, extending the Toronto (2-7) lead.
Ernie Clement added one more run by driving in Venezuelan Anthony Santander with a single to right field.
In the sixth inning, Giménez advanced to the buzzer on a grounder to leadoff hit by Lukes, which preceded the three-run homer by Mexico’s Kirk, which brought Springer and Guerrero Jr. to the plate, to put the Blue Jays in double figures (2-12) in the game.
Blue Jays close strong and force game 4
The Mariners, who had been nullified by the Blue Jays’ pitchers after their two first-inning homers, came back with back-to-back home runs by Cuban Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh off Cuban reliever Yariel Rodriguez.
The Blue Jays completed their attack in the ninth inning when Addison Barger sent the ball beyond the outfield boundary.
After allowing Rodriguez’s 2-run home run in the first inning, Bieber (1-0) found his rhythm on the mound, managing to keep pitching for 6 episodes, in which he allowed 4 hits and struck out 8 opponents to get the victory.
Kirby (0-1) had no secrets against the Blue Jays, who attacked him with 8 runs in 4 innings, in which he struck out 4 batters.
Game 4 of the MLB American League Championship Series will be played Thursday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
With information from EFE
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