Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Mariners’ epic rally eliminates Jays
TORONTO — Carlos Santana and J.P. Crawford delivered before Adam Frazier capped Seattle’s historic comeback with one sweet swing.
A little October fun for a new generation of Mariners.
Frazier hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the ninth inning, and Seattle erased a seven-run deficit while topping Toronto 10-9 on Saturday for a sweep of an American League wild-card series.
“Those are the kind of moments you picture yourself in in the backyard when you’re a kid,” Frazier said.
It was the biggest road comeback win in playoff history and the majors’ largest comeback victory to clinch a postseason series.
It was quite a day for a franchise making its first playoff appearance since Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez and company were eliminated by the New York Yankees in the 2001 AL Championship Series. Next up for this group of Mariners is Houston in an AL division series.
“To go to the World Series, you have to go through Houston,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “They’re really good. We understand that. We’re really good.”
The Mariners got off to a 29-39 start this season but went 61-33 from June 21 on, trailing only the Astros (65-31) among AL teams over that span.
After winning 4-0 in the opener of the best-of-three series, the Mariners trailed 8-1 through five innings in Game 2. But they roared back, tying it with four runs in the eighth.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Crawford hit a blooper to center against All-star closer Jordan Romano.
“I was praying to the baseball gods to just let that ball sit,” Crawford said.
Center fielder George Springer and shortstop Bo Bichette went hard after the sinking liner, and it landed as the two collided. All three runners scored on the double, tying it at 9.
“It seems everything that could go wrong did go wrong in a very short period of time,” interim Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
Bichette stayed in the game, but the 33-year-old Springer had to be helped to his feet before he was carted off. Schneider said Springer, a four-time All-star, was “doing OK” and would be evaluated further.
The Blue Jays have lost five straight postseason games and eight of nine. Toronto, which finished one win short of a playoff berth in 2021, heads into another offseason on a disappointing note.
Cal Raleigh, who hit an RBI single for Seattle in the eighth, reached on a one-out double against Romano in the ninth. After Mitch Haniger flied out, Frazier drove in Raleigh with a double to right.
Bichette walked, stole second and advanced to third on a grounder in the eighth, but Andres Munoz retired Alejandro Kirk to end the threat.
Rookie George Kirby, Seattle’s eighth pitcher of the day, handled the ninth for his first save. Matt Chapman walked with one out, but Danny Jansen struck out, and Raimel Tapia lined out to end the game.
“I figured (Kirby) would step up, the adrenaline would be going, and he did a great job,” Servais said.
Toronto got off to a fast start. Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homer in the second and a solo drive in the fourth against Robbie Ray, who won the AL Cy Young Award while pitching for the Blue Jays last year.
After Ty France scored on Toronto reliever Tim Mayza’s wild pitch in the sixth, Santana gave Seattle’s comeback a big boost with a three-run homer.