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 Game 1 of the ALCS in Toronto.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

[Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7]

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.

Gausman walked Julio Rodríguez on the next at-bat, and his night was done.

Advertisement

Reliever Brendon Miller was called upon to secure the final out of the frame. He threw a wild pitch that allowed Rodríguez 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.

Advertisement

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 on Monday in Game 2 (5:15 p.m. ET/Fox, FS1)