From unconscious to unstoppable, the Toronto Blue Jays have pulled even with the Seattle Mariners in this American League Championship Series thanks to a cast of characters both unlikely and highly anticipated.
A No. 9 hitter suddenly flexing his muscles. A 41-year-old trying to wring the last few pitches out of his skill set before jetting off to the Hall of Fame.
And a resident superstar very much acting the part.
The Blue Jays called upon all of that, most notably a command performance from starting pitcher Max Scherzer, to crush the Seattle Mariners 8-2 in Game 4 Oct. 17 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
Notching his first postseason victory since Game 1 of the 2019 World Series, Scherzer wobbled early, steadied himself and then unleashed a classic Mad Max tirade when manager John Schneider dared visit the mound with two outs in the fifth inning.
Schneider, just four years Scherzer’s senior, wisely backed off, Scherzer finished the fifth – and even got two more outs in the sixth.
Hey, 5 ⅔ innings, non-Dodgers edition, is a lengthy outing in this day and age and Scherzer – left off the AL Division Series roster and starting his first game since Sept. 24 – certainly gave Toronto more than anticipated.
So did Andrés Giménez.
For the second consecutive night, he hit a two-run homer in the third inning, in a sense singlehandedly pulling Toronto back from the brink after it came to the Emerald City trailing 2-0 in this best-of-seven.
In Game 3, that meant a game-tying shot. In Game 4, it was a go-ahead two-run homer, maybe a section to the right of his dinger the night before, and it ignited a five-run uprising over two innings for the Blue Jays.
He added a two-run single in the eighth, a four-RBI night.
In between all that, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ripped a solo homer, his second in as many nights and fifth of the postseason, to push the lead to 6-2 in the seventh.
Seattle, save for the vociferous Canadians who trekked down from British Columbia to root for the Blue Jays, was shell-shocked. This ALCS is now even.
And the Mariners will need their bats to wake up and right-handers Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo to be on point in Game 5 if they don’t want to go back to Toronto facing a 3-2 deficit.
Then again, the road team has won every game in this series. As Game 4 proved, there’s always more surprises lurking around the corner.
Here’s how Game 4 unfolded:
Blue Jays blow it open in the eighth
The Mariners and Blue Jays traded runs in the sixth and seventh and Toronto took a 6-2 lead into the top of the eighth. With runners on second and third and one out, Andres Gimenez hit a two-RBI single to extend the advantage to 8-2, giving him four RBIs in Game 4 after his two-run homer earlier.
Max Scherzer becomes ‘Mad Max’ once more
Max Scherzer screamed at his manager. And then he turned his madness against his opponent, putting himself in line for his first postseason win since 2019.
Scherzer, visited by Blue Jays manager John Schneider with two outs in the fifth inning, vociferously lobbied to stay in the game. Schneider agreed, and then Scherzer struck out Randy Arozarena on a curveball well outside the strike zone to preserve the Blue Jays’ 5-1 lead in ALCS Game 4.
Scherzer, making his first start since Sept. 24, allowed just a second-inning homer to Josh Naylor and a pair of harmless singles, striking out four. Schneider even let him go out for the sixth, recording two outs before a walk prompted Schneider to lift him, for reals.
Reliever Mason Fluharty allowed that run to score on a Eugenio Suarez RBI single, trimming the lead to 5-2, but the game is on to the seventh, Toronto just nine outs from squaring the series.
At 41, Scherzer perhaps can’t go as deep in games as he used to. But he can still be Mad Max when he needs it.
Blue Jays take 5-1 lead in fourth inning
The Toronto Blue Jays are getting contributions from all quarters – and drifting toward tying up this ALCS.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, given a start at second base, has two hits in his first two at-bats and scored on George Springer’s RBI double as the Blue Jays tacked on two more runs in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead.
Toronto has sapped the energy from the Mariners and T-Mobile Park, as it chased Luis Castillo, dinged up lefty reliever Gabe Speier and then scored a fifth run when Matt Brash bounced a wild pitch off Cal Raleigh’s shin guard, scoring George Springer.
Andrés Giménez slugs another HR for Blue Jays
The No. 9 hitter is now public enemy No. 1 in Seattle.
Andrés Giménez, who hit no home runs in his final 76 at-bats of the season, clubbed his second two-run home run in as many nights, as the Blue Jays scored three third-inning runs to take a 3-1 lead over the Mariners in Game 4 of the ALCS.
The home run circumstances were eerily similar.
Game 3, third inning, Mariners leading 2-0: Giménez rips a game-tying two-run home run.
Game 4, third inning, Mariners leading 1-0: Giménez tags a hanging slider from Luis Castillo 364 feet – perhaps a section or two over from his Game 3 shot – for a 2-1 lead.
The homer invigorated the throng of Blue Jays fans in Seattle and stunned Mariners fans worried their club may be staring at a 2-2 ALCS after Game 4.
After one-out singles by Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a walk to Alejandro Kirk, Castillo was lifted after recording just seven outs. Reliever Gabe Speier walked Daulton Varsho to score another run, but escaped the inning without further damage.
Josh Naylor home run puts Mariners in front
An invigorated Seattle Mariners lineup against a rusty Max Scherzer has already yielded an expected result.
Josh Naylor ripped Scherzer’s second pitch of the second inning over the center field wall to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead in Game 4 of the ALCS.
Scherzer has not started since Sept. 24 and was not on the ALDS roster. The rust showed in the first inning, when he yanked pitches all over the zone and walked a pair, escaping on Jorge Polanco’s double-play grounder.
Yet Naylor jumped him quickly in the second, and Seattle scored first for the third consecutive game.
Mariners lineup today: ALCS Game 4
- Randy Arozarena (R) LF
- Cal Raleigh (S) C
- Julio Rodríguez (R) CF
- Jorge Polanco (S) DH
- Josh Naylor (L) 1B
- Eugenio Suárez (R) 3B
- Dominic Canzone (L) RF
- J.P. Crawford (L) SS
- Leo Rivas (S) 2B
Blue Jays lineup for ALCS Game 4
- George Springer (R) DH
- Nathan Lukes (L) LF
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
- Alejandro Kirk (R) C
- Daulton Varsho (L) CF
- Ernie Clement (R) 3B
- Addison Barger (L) RF
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa (R) 2B
- Andrés Giménez (L) SS
Anthony Santander replaced on Blue Jays roster
Toronto outfielder Anthony Santander’s season is over after being replaced on the ALCS roster by Joey Loperfido due to injury. MLB rules dictate that mid-series roster changes result in the player missing the next round of the playoffs.
Santander, signed to a $92.5 million free agent deal last winter, was limited to 54 regular-season games and had appeared in five of Toronto’s seven postseason games.