It will all come down to one game for the Seattle Mariners.
The M’s made mistakes, missed opportunities and fell behind early on their way to a 6-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday night at Rogers Centre.
Now the Mariners and Blue Jays are set for a decisive Game 7 in Toronto at 5:08 p.m. Monday.
Wrong first: Seattle Mariners to play in Game 7 for first time
What stands out as the ALCS moves to a win-or-go-home finale?
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi weighed in from Rogers Centre right after Toronto’s Game 6 victory.
“We are about to have a Game 7 of the American League Championship Series – the first-ever Game 7 in Mariners history,” Morosi said. “The first Game 7 for the Blue Jays since they lost Game 7 in the 1985 American League Championship Series over at Exhibition Stadium 40 years ago this week.”
A complete Blue Jays win
One look at the box score is all one would need to know how Game 6 played out.
Seattle made mistakes that helped the Blue Jays early. Julio Rodíguez misplayed the hop on a single that allowed Daulton Varsho to take second, and Eugenio Suárez couldn’t come up with a hard grounder in the next at-bat that allowed Ernie Clement to reach for errors on back-to-back at-bats to start the bottom of the second inning. Both came across to score for the first runs of the game.
The Mariners also helped the Blue Jays out in the seventh. After chasing down a wild pitch, Cal Raleigh threw errantly to third, which allowed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to score for a 6-2 lead.
It was the first time the Mariners committed three errors all season.
Recap: Blue Jays beat Mariners, force deciding ALCS Game 7
Seattle also grounded into inning-ending double plays in three straight innings between those defensive mistakes, including doing it with the bases loaded in the third and fourth innings.
And rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage held the M’s scoreless until surrendering two runs in the sixth. Meanwhile, Logan Gilbert gave up five runs over four innings.
“Simply put, the Blue Jays played a better ball game tonight than the Mariners did,” Morosi said. “They turned three double plays. The Mariners committed three errors. Trey Yesavage was sharper than Logan Gilbert. A few pitches that Gilbert left up, the Blue Jays stung them. With their season on the line, it was the Jays who had the momentum.”
Pitching options loom large in Game 7
The decisive Game 7 of the series will feature a pitching matchup between Mariners right-hander George Kirby and Blue Jays right-hander Shane Bieber.
Kirby was hit hard during Game 3 in Seattle, surrendering eight runs while allowing three homers over four innings. Bieber turned in six innings of two-run ball on the same night.
However, it figures to be all hands on deck for Game 7, which led Morosi to wondering what the availability of Bryan Woo will be. Seattle’s All-Star right-hander pitched two innings of relief during Friday’s Game 5, his first game action since leaving a Sept. 19 start with right pectoral inflammation.
“For the Mariners, the biggest question I have right now is, ‘How many innings could they potentially have Bryan Woo in Game 7?’” Morosi said. “Here’s why that’s such a question: Because the Mariners went to Matt Brash when they were trailing here in Game 6 (and) Brash did not pitch especially well. His command looked a little bit off relative to where he’s been for most of this postseason. That’s a little bit of a concern.
“Brash had faced a lot of the key hitters from the Blue Jays, and certainly the Mariners might not want to have those hitters get too many good looks at Matt Brash during the course of this series, so keep an eye on that in Game 7.”
What does Morosi think the Mariners’ options out of the bullpen will be?
“You would expect Andrés Muñoz (to be) available for two innings, so maybe the plan is Kirby for five, Woo for two and then Muñoz with the potential of brief appearances from Brash, (Eduard) Bazardo and (Gabe) Speier mixed in there.”
The Blue Jays have had a shaky bullpen in this series, but Morosi saw a Game 6 performance that could give them some confidence from that group. Plus, they have a couple additional options on top of their typical bullpen arms.
“The Jays, meanwhile, they could have future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer available for them in relief, along with Chris Bassitt,” Morosi said. “They restored a little bit of confidence to their bullpen. Louis Varland I thought was excellent (in Game 6).”
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