The Toronto Blue Jays exploded at the plate Wednesday night, mashing five home runs and 18 hits in a commanding 13-4 win over the Seattle Mariners to claw back into the AL Championship Series.
Toronto’s bats ignited early—and often—with every hit coming within the first three pitches of each at-bat. The message? See it, smash it.
“If they give us a first pitch, the pitch that we’re looking for, we’re going to attack and we’re going to be aggressive,” said Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had four hits and fell a triple short of the cycle.
Seattle struck first with a two-run homer from Julio Rodríguez in the opening inning off former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, briefly sparking dreams of a sweep. But the Blue Jays stormed back with a five-run third, led by Andrés Giménez’s game-tying two-run shot—his first homer since August.
Home runs flew in from all angles. George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, and Addison Barger each went deep, with Guerrero adding his own for a total of 2,004 feet in long balls. The offensive blitz matched a postseason record of eight combined homers in one game.
Seattle’s George Kirby was torched for eight runs and two walks before exiting in the third. His wild pitch gave Toronto a 3-2 lead, and the Blue Jays never looked back.
Kirk capped the fireworks with a three-run homer in the sixth, boosting his postseason average to .413 at T-Mobile Park.
Bieber bounced back after his shaky start to pitch six innings of shutout ball, the longest outing by a Blue Jays starter this postseason.
Toronto’s win cuts the series to 2-1, with momentum shifting as veteran Max Scherzer is set to start Game 4 against Seattle’s Luis Castillo. Scherzer, 41, hasn’t won in his last eight postseason starts—adding intrigue to the pivotal matchup.
As Blue Jays manager John Schneider put it: “I hope we find some slug in the air out here. Maybe we did.”