Mariners Shock Blue Jays and Steal Win at Rogers Centre in ALCS Opener

The Blue Jays started off in historic fashion, which follows suit with their season, as the leadoff man George Springer hit a bomb the very first ball thrown by Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller. That home run was the first leadoff homer in Jays playoff history.

Unfortunately the first inning was also a blow to the Jays hitting line up as Nathan Lukes fouled a pitch off of his right knee. He was able to finish his at-bat and somehow stayed in the game for a little while, but was ultimately replaced by Myles Straw with a knee contusion.

The action slowed down significantly after that first inning. Miller was truly impressive after the first inning where he threw 25 pitches and walked two. After that first score, he retired 10 batters straight which included a strikeout of Springer later in the game.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman was nearly picture perfect all night, except for one bad pitch that went to Seattle's Cal Raleigh. Raleigh hit a 420 foot bomb of his own to bring the game to a tie at the top of the sixth. With a walk the following batter, Gausman's night was done. He finished nearly seven innings with five strikeouts and only three hits.

The sixth was a momentum swinger for the Mariners. They had the Raleigh homer and then with nobody on base and two outs the Mariners had a pair of hits. Julio Rodríguez started things off and then a Jorge Polanco single put a run up on the board to take a 2-1 lead.

Polanco did it again in the eighth inning with another single this time into right field. This brought in Randy Arozarena after a pair of stolen bases with only one out and a pair of runners on the bags. But, the Jays got out of it with only the one runner scoring and the score was 3-1 going into the final three outs.

However, a comeback was not in the cards for the Blue Jays and while the offense has taken care of business without Bo Bichette , he was clearly missed tonight as the Mariners retired 23 of the final 24 batters. Game two is set for Monday in Toronto which will showcase the rising star Trey Yesavage on the mound for the Blue Jays as they try to even this series before going to Seattle.