TORONTO — Adam Frazier hit a two-out RBI double in the ninth inning and the visiting Seattle Mariners overcame an 8-1 deficit Saturday to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-9 and clinch their American League wild-card series.
The Mariners swept the best-of-three series despite two home runs and four RBIs by Toronto’s Teoscar Hernandez.
The Mariners tied the second-biggest comeback in postseason history. The Philadelphia A’s overcame an eight-run deficit to win Game 4 of the 1929 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, and the Boston Red Sox escaped a seven-run hole in Game 5 of the 2008 American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
“Heckuva win and really happy to have an opportunity to bring a playoff game back home to Seattle,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It has been a long time and our fan base is certainly deserving of it.”
It was also the biggest road comeback in postseason history.
“That’s awesome,” Servais said. “Our team is the ultimate gritty team. We’ve had some guys have big years. We probably have the Rookie of the Year. We’ve got pitchers that have had great years. What Cal Raleigh has done, unbelievable.”
Seattle tied it in a four-run eighth on a two-out, three-run bloop double by J.P. Crawford as center fielder George Springer and shortstop Bo Bichette collided. Springer was taken from the field on a cart with an apparent head injury.
“He’s doing OK,” Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider said of Springer. “He’s going to be evaluated for a couple of different things. He said some nice things to his teammates just now, so we’ll know more in the next couple of days.
“Bo and George kind of both going for it. I haven’t even had a chance to look at it on video yet, but I think it was Bo’s elbow to George’s shoulder or head area. I’m not quite sure,” Schneider added.
Jordan Romano (0-1) allowed Cal Raleigh’s one-out double to set up Frazier’s two-out double.
Carlos Santana hit a three-run home run for Seattle.
Toronto starter Kevin Gausman allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings.
Seattle left-hander Robbie Ray allowed four runs in three-plus innings.
Alejandro Kirk doubled, and Hernandez homered in the second for a 2-0 Jays lead.
Santiago Espinal doubled in the third and scored on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s two-out single for a 3-0 lead.
Hernandez homered on the first pitch of the home fourth.
Frazier started the fifth with a single, Seattle’s first hit of the game. He took third on Santana’s double. Jarred Kelenic hit a sacrifice fly.
Espinal singled against Paul Sewald to open the home fifth and took third on Bichette’s double. Guerrero was intentionally walked. Espinal scored on a passed ball, Kirk walked to load the bases, Hernandez was hit by a pitch to force in a run, Matt Chapman hit a sacrifice fly and Danny Jansen hit an RBI double to give the Jays an 8-1 lead.
Seattle loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth on singles by Ty France, Eugenio Suarez and Raleigh. Tim Mayza replaced Gausman with two outs. A wild pitch scored one run before Santana homered to left, slicing the lead to 8-5.
“Timmy Mayza is a tough guy to get underneath and hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Schneider said. “Especially, we like that with Santana right-handed as opposed to left-handed. Gausman was outstanding, I think. … There’s always going to be times where I could sit here for about six months and second-guess myself, but right now I don’t.
“You trust the guys that got you here. You trust your entire roster. Today we didn’t get it done, and they beat us. That sucks right now, but again, the guys that did the job they did to get here, I’ll never have any fear about putting them in again.”
Penn Murfee replaced Matthew Festa with one out and one on in the bottom of the seventh. Hernandez stole second, took third on Chapman’s infield single to first and scored on Jansen’s RBI single.
Suarez led off the eighth with a double against Anthony Bass and scored on Raleigh’s single. Mitch Haniger singled. Romano replaced Bass and allowed Frazier’s single to load the bases for Crawford’s tying double.
Andres Munoz (1-0) pitched around a walk and a stolen base in the bottom of the eighth. George Kirby pitched around a ninth-inning walk to earn the save.
–Larry Millson, Field Level Media
