Blue Jays take down Mariners, force ALCS Game 7

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TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays not only got the big hits, but they also made the key fielding plays Sunday night to force Game 7 in the American League Championship Series.

Addison Barger hit a two-run homer and had three RBIs and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added a solo shot as the Blue Jays defeated the Seattle Mariners 6-2 in Game 6.

The decisive game will be played Monday night in Toronto.

Josh Naylor homered for the Mariners, who have never won an AL pennant.

There also was a difference defensively. Toronto turned three double plays, two with the bases loaded. The Mariners committed three errors.

“You’ve got to enjoy it, this is what you sign up for,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “Whenever you can play for a Game 7 to go to the World Series, it sounds cool to say. It’s special and unique. … I wish we were playing right now.”

The Mariners could not ride the momentum from their comeback 6-2 win in Game 5.

“This is a team that has bounced back all season and this is a chance to do it again,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.

Seattle committed two errors to help Toronto take a 2-0 lead in the second against right-hander Logan Gilbert (1-1).

Daulton Varsho lined a single to center and took second on center fielder Julio Rodriguez’s error to open the second. Ernie Clement reached first on third baseman Eugenio Suarez’s error. Barger then lined an RBI single to right. Clement scored on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s infield hit, a trickler toward third.

“Our guys have been so good about it all season long, and balls just kind of in and out of the glove there tonight that put a couple extra guys on base,” Wilson said. “That happens from time to time.”

Rookie Trey Yesavage (2-1) retired his first six batters, striking out the side in the second. The right-hander allowed two walks and a single off the right field wall to load the bases in the third before Cal Raleigh grounded into an inning-ending double play.

“This is the most electric, energized crowd I’ve ever played in front of,” said Yesavage, 22. “It wasn’t how I had to deal with it, it was how I could use it to my advantage. They had me fired up, had me wanting to go out there and punch out the side.”

Clement tripled high off the left field wall with two outs in the home third, and two pitches later, Barger homered to center on an 0-1 slider to make it 4-0.

“Obviously, that’s a moment you dream about as a kid and everything,” Barger said. “Yeah, Gilbert, he’s disgusting. He has a great arm. I think he just left that slider a little too middle and I got extended on it and that was it.”

Seattle again loaded the bases in the fourth on two singles and a walk before J.P. Crawford grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The Mariners grounded into an inning-ending double play again in the fifth, this time by Rodriguez.

Guerrero led off the home fifth with his sixth home run of the postseason, a shot to left. His six career postseason homers tie him with Joe Carter and Jose Bautista for most in team history.

Eduard Bazardo replaced Gilbert, who allowed five runs (four earned), seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts in four-plus innings.

Naylor homered to right with two outs in the sixth. After Randy Arozarena followed with a single, Louis Varland replaced Yesavage and Suarez looped an RBI single to right. Yesavage allowed two runs, six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Yesavage, who made his major league debut in September, made his third postseason start.

Guerrero scored on a wild pitch and a throwing error in the seventh after being hit by a Matt Brash pitch and taking second on Alejandro Kirk’s single.

Toronto’s Jeff Hoffman pitched a perfect eighth and worked around a walk in the ninth. He had four strikeouts.

–Larry Millson, Field Level Media