Guerrero hits 6th postseason homer and Blue Jays beat Mariners 6-2 to force Game 7 of ALCS
TORONTO AP Vladimir Guerrero Jr hit his sixth home run of the postseason rookie Trey Yesavage struck out seven in innings and the Toronto Blue Jays forced a Meeting in the American League Championship Series by beating the Seattle Mariners - on Sunday night The series will be decided Monday night in Toronto the second Competition in Blue Jays history Toronto lost to Kansas City in the ALCS Seattle the only big league association without a pennant will play in a postseason Match for the first time The winner faces the NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series beginning Friday My dad was telling me Championship is give it all you have announced Guerrero the son of Hall of Fame outfielder Vladimir Guerrero Addison Barger homered and drove in three early runs and the Blue Jays turned three double plays behind Yesavage two of them to escape bases-loaded jams That made Toronto the first unit to induce consecutive bases-loaded inning-ending double plays in a postseason championship They re only the fourth crew to turn two in a single postseason meeting He brings the power He s young He wants to win so bad Guerrero commented about Yesavage Toronto also took advantage of Seattle s season-high three errors By comparison the Blue Jays have made four errors in playoff games This is a unit that has done the little things all season Mariners manager Dan Wilson declared It s also a unit that has bounced back a lot and this is a chance for us to do that again and we ll do it the following morning night in Championship Guerrero s sixth career postseason homer all this year tied him with Jos Bautista and Joe Carter for the bulk in Blue Jays history Bautista threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the competition Toronto had lost its previous four games when facing postseason elimination That streak stretched to Encounter of the ALCS against Cleveland and included wild-card round losses to Tampa Bay in Seattle in and Minnesota in Guerrero s leadoff homer in the fifth made it - and chased Mariners starter Logan Gilbert The right-hander allowed four earned runs and seven hits in four innings Yesavage took a shutout into the sixth He was charged with two runs and six hits five of them singles Five of his strikeouts came on his split-finger fastball as did both double-play grounders with the bases loaded I just supposed in myself I know my stuff plays at this level Yesavage reported I know the defense behind me is going to play at the best of their abilities and getting three double plays in back-to-back-to-back innings was huge The -year-old Yesavage threw a season-high splitters He got whiffs on splitters and five more on sliders I just wished to compete in the zone try not to get behind guys and just go out there and let my stuff eat and I went out there and did that he announced Three of Yesavage s six major league starts have come in the playoffs He s won twice in three starts this postseason after winning one of three outings in the regular season Louis Varland got four outs and Jeff Hoffman struck out four over two hitless innings to end it The Mariners used two walks and a single to load the bases against Yesavage in the third but were denied when slugger Cal Raleigh grounded into a - - double play started by Guerrero and completed by Yesavage covering first base Raleigh s first-pitch grounder came off his bat at mph Raleigh finished for with three strikeouts Seattle came up empty again after another bases-loaded opportunity in the fourth when J P Crawford grounded into a - - double play The Mariners broke through and chased Yesavage in the sixth Josh Naylor s solo shot was his third home run of the playoffs Yesavage exited after Randy Arozarena s base hit and Eugenio Su rez greeted Varland with an RBI single Toronto took advantage of fielding errors by Julio Rodr guez in center field and Su rez at third base to points twice in the second when Barger and Isiah Kiner-Falefa had RBI singles Ernie Clement hit a two-out triple off the left-field wall in the third and scored when Barger homered his second of the potseason George Springer started at designated hitter for the Blue Jays and went for with a walk Springer exited in the seventh inning of Friday s Contest loss in Seattle after he was hit on the right kneecap by a mph pitch from Bryan Woo Guerrero was hit by a pitch from Seattle reliever Matt Brash in the seventh Guerrero moved to second on Alejandro Kirk s single and was advancing on a wild pitch when he scored on Raleigh s throwing error Up next Toronto is expected to start RHP Shane Bieber on Monday Bieber allowed two runs and four hits over six innings in Challenge a - win for the Blue Jays He struck out eight and walked one as he bounced back from a poor outing against the Yankees in the Division Series Seattle RHP George Kirby who allowed eight runs and eight hits including three homers over four innings in Competition will start for the Mariners AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source
