Second baseman Adam Frazier delivered a clutch, two-out RBI double in the top of the ninth inning that would prove to be the game-winning hit as the Seattle Mariners completed an improbable, eight-run comeback to beat the Blue Jays 10-9 in Toronto Saturday, clinching their first trip to the American League Division Series since 2001.
It is the Mariners' first playoff series win in 21 years.
After the Mariners tied the game on a three-run J.P. Crawford RBI double in the top of the eighth, Frazier doubled home Cal Raleigh from second base in the ninth, giving his club a 10-9 lead.
The Blue Jays led 8-1 entering the sixth inning.
A four-run sixth inning cut the Blue Jays' lead in half. The Blue Jays tacked on an insurance run in the seventh, but another four-run inning from the Mariners in the top of the eighth erased the Blue Jays' lead entirely, and the Blue Jays would never recover.
Mariners manager Scott Servais opted to go to starting pitcher George Kirby to pitch the bottom of the ninth. It was Kirby's first relief appearance of his big league career.
Kirby walked Matt Chapman, but did not allow a hit in his first career relief appearance, sitting down the Blue Jays and ending the team from the north's season.
The Mariners will advance to the ALDS to play their division rival, the Houston Astros, in a best-of-five series beginning Tuesday.
Logan Gilbert — who was scheduled to pitch a potential game three — would be the most logical option to pitch game one of the ALDS, after the Mariners used starters Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray and George Kirby this weekend.
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