The Seattle Mariners needed a sensational effort from ALCS Game 1 starter Bryce Miller on Sunday after a 15-inning marathon in ALDS Game 5 on Friday.
They got exactly that. Miller allowed a leadoff home run to George Springer on his first pitch of the game. He didn’t allow another run across six sterling innings to lead Seattle to a 3-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS opener in Toronto.
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The win silenced a Rogers Centre crowd that spent last week in a frenzy as Blue Jays bats pounded Yankees pitching in the ALDS. That energy carried into the first inning Sunday, when Springer hit his solo blast to give Toronto a 1-0 lead en route to a 27-pitch first frame for Miller.
But Miller didn’t wilt.
He settled in and needed just 49 pitches to get through the next five innings, extending a start that wasn’t expected to go that long and certainly didn’t seem likely to after the first frame. Miller got through the third, fourth and fifth innings without allowing a baserunner and stayed in the sixth after issuing a two-out walk to cleanup hitter Addison Barger.
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Miller got out of the frame with a lineout from Alejandro Kirk. With that, the once-frenetic Toronto crowd was reduced to a murmur.
Cal Raleigh blast puts Mariners on the board
Behind Miller’s outstanding effort, Seattle’s bats did just enough to take control.
In the sixth inning, MVP candidate Cal Raleigh picked up where he left off from a sensational ALDS in which he hit .381 with a home run and four RBI. With Toronto holding a 1-0 lead and starter Kevin Gausman one out away from six shutout innings, Raleigh launched a no-doubt homer over the right-field bullpen and deep into the bleachers to tie the game 1-1.
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Gausman walked Julio RodrÃguez on the next at-bat, and his night was done.
Reliever Brendon Miller was called upon to secure the final out of the frame. He threw a wild pitch that allowed RodrÃguez to advance to second, and then Julio scored on a Jorge Polanco single, giving the Mariners a 2-1 lead.
That was all the runs they would need, though Seattle added one more in the eighth, again off the bat of Polanco.
Seattle’s bullpen, which was exhausted in Friday’s epic 3-2 win over Detroit in Game 5 of the ALDS, followed Miller with three scoreless innings. Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and closer Andrés Muñoz each threw a scoreless frame to close out the game and secure the victory.
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In total, Miller and three Mariners relievers combined to limit a Blue Jays team that averaged 8.5 runs in the ALDS to that single run. They did so while throwing 100 total pitches. In the process, the Mariners stole home-field advantage in the best-of-seven series.
The Blue Jays will look to even the series at home Monday in Game 2 (5:15 p.m. ET/Fox, FS1)
Live coverage is over33 updatesSun, October 12, 2025 at 9:29 PM EDT
Jason Owens
Sun, October 12, 2025 at 11:02 PM EDT
ALCS Game 2 begins at 5:03 p.m. ET Monday. NLCS Game 1 begins at 8:08 p.m.
Sun, October 12, 2025 at 10:54 PM EDT
Alejandro Kirk flies out, and that does it.
George Springer hit a home run in the first Toronto at-bat of the game, and that was all the offense the Blue Jays mustered.
An exhausted, battle-tested Mariners team delivered an incredible team victory, with shutdown pitching from Bryce Miller and the bullpen, plus just enough offense to secure a victory in Game 1 of the ALCS.
Sun, October 12, 2025 at 10:52 PM EDT
Vlad grounds out (he’s 0-for-4 tonight), and Barger flies out.
With just five pitches, Muñoz has two outs done.
Sun, October 12, 2025 at 10:51 PM EDT
Aside from a single from Robles, the Mariners went down without much drama in the ninth.
Andres Muñoz is taking the mound to try to get the final three outs and steal this Game 1 road victory for the Mariners less than 48 hours after they played a 15-inning game.
Sun, October 12, 2025 at 10:38 PM EDT
Matt Brash comes out of the Seattle bullpen and goes groundout-strikeout-flyout.
To the ninth we go.
Sun, October 12, 2025 at 10:37 PM EDT
It’s 3-1 Mariners going to the bottom of the eighth.
The Blue Jays have six outs to mount a comeback.
Sun, October 12, 2025 at 10:30 PM EDT
Mason Fluharty is on the mound now. He starts with a strikeout of Josh Naylor.
That’s two down, with runners on first and second.
Sun, October 12, 2025 at 10:26 PM EDT
The Mariners are tacking on in the eighth. Arozarena walked to lead off the inning, then stole second … and third.
Julio also walked, and then Polanco singled to bring Randy home. It’s 3-1 Mariners, and the Blue Jays are making a pitching change.
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Gabe Speier took over in the seventh after six one-run innings from Mariners starter Bryce Miller and kept the Mariners in front.
Speier pitched a 1-2-3 frame to maintain a 2-1 Seattle lead. He got some help via a sensational diving catch by left fielder Randy Arozarena to end the inning. Can Seattle’s bullpen hold up after Friday’s 15-inning marathon against Detroit?
Jason Owens
Eugenio Suárez just missed a home run off Blue Jays reliever off Louis Varland that bounced high off the center-field wall for a leadoff double.
He never made it home. Suárez made it to third on a groundout. But Varland got out of the inning unscathed with a one-out strikeout and two-out groundout to keep Suárez from scoring. Toronto holds Seattle to a 2-1 lead at the seventh-inning stretch.
Jason Owens
Mariners starter Bryce Miller pitched tonight on three days’ rest and began the game by allowing a leadoff home run en route to throwing 27 pitches in the first inning.
He’s been lights-out since. Miller just pitched his fifth straight scoreless frame with outs of Myles Straw, Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk. He has shut down a slugging Blue Jays lineup that pounded the Yankees in the ALDS, and his Mariners hold a 2-1 lead.
Miller’s night might be done after six sensational innings. If so, he’ll leave the game in line for the win.
Jason Owens
A stellar start to Kevin Gausman’s night has ended with two earned runs in the sixth.
Reliever Brendon Little replace Gausman with two outs in the sixth after Cal Raleigh’s home run and a walk of Julio Rodriguez. Rodriguez took second on a wild pitch by Little and came home on a Jorge Polanco single.
Seattle now leads 2-1 in the middle of the sixth after Toronto seized early control of the game.
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With Rogers Centre rocking and hoping for Kevin Gausman’s 17th straight out, Cal Raleigh had other ideas.
The Mariners slugger and MVP candidate launched a towering, two-out home run into the right-field stands off an 0-1 fastball. Raleigh has been great throughout the postseason and starts the ALCS with a game-tying home run in the sixth.
Gausman walked Julio Rodriguez after the Raleigh home run, and his day is done after 6 2/3 one-run innings. The game is tied 1-1.
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Mariners starter Bryce Miller worked a 1-2-3 fifth and has allowed just a single Toronto hit since George Springer’s leadoff home run. Miller struck out Springer and Anthony Santander in the fifth.
Toronto leads 1-0 after five.
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OK, who’s going to blink?
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman just countered Bryce Miller’s second straight 1-2-3 inning with his fourth straight in the fifth.
He needed just four pitches to get through Eugenio Suárez, Dominic Canzone and Victor Robles and has now retired 14 straight Mariners batters. Toronto leads 1-0 in the middle of the fifth.
Jason Owens
After allowing a leadoff home run in a 27-pitch first inning, Mariners starter Bryce Miller has settled in. He’s allowed just one hit since George Springer’s home run and finished his second straight 1-2-3 frame in the fourth.
Toronto leads 1-0 after four. He thrown 23 pitches in the three innings since his 27-pitch first and is up to 50 for the game.
Jason Owens
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman has now retired 11 straight Mariners, and Toronto leaves the top of the fourth inning with a 1-0 lead. He struck out Julio Rodriguez on three pitches to start the fourth.
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Blue Jays right fielder Nathan Lukes fouled a pitch hard off his right knee in the first inning and remained in the game. But he’s done in the fourth.
Myles Straw replaced Lukes in the field in the top of the inning. There’s no word on the severity of Lukes’ injury.
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Both pitchers have settled in after shaky starts. Bryce Miller just retired the Blue Jays’ side in order in the third, and Toronto maintains a 1-0 lead after three.