TORONTO (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his sixth home run of the postseason, rookie Trey Yesavage struck out seven in five and two-thirds innings, and the Toronto Blue Jays forced a seventh game in the American League Championship Series by defeating the Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Sunday night. The series will be decided on Monday night in Toronto, marking the second decisive game in Blue Jays history. Toronto previously lost to Kansas City in the 1985 AL Championship Series.
Seattle, the only Major League Baseball team without a pennant, will play its first-ever seventh postseason game. The winner will face the Los Angeles Dodgers, the National League champions, in the World Series starting Friday.
The Blue Jays turned three double plays behind Yesavage, two of which helped them escape jam situations with the bases loaded. This made Toronto the first team to induce consecutive double plays with the bases loaded to end an inning in a postseason game, and only the fourth team to achieve two in a single playoff game.
Toronto also took advantage of three errors by Seattle, the most by the Mariners this season. In contrast, the Blue Jays have committed only four errors in ten playoff games.
Guerrero's sixth postseason home run—all this year—tied him with José Bautista and Joe Carter for the most in Blue Jays history. Bautista threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game.
Addison Barger also homered and drove in three runs for the Blue Jays, who had lost their previous four elimination games in postseason history. That streak dated back to Game 5 of the 2016 Championship Series against Cleveland and included losses in the Wild Card round against Tampa Bay in 2020, Seattle in 2022, and Minnesota in 2023.