Mariners humbled in Game 3 of ALCS as Blue Jays win 13-4

The stage was set for the Mariners to all but bury the Blue Jays, but George Kirby endured a terrible outing and now we have a series again.

It was all looking so good early on Wednesday evening, in Game Three of this AL Championship Series versus the Toronto Blue Jays. Julio Rodríguez had given the Seattle Mariners an early lead with a two-run bomb and George Kirby was on the way to another tremendous postseason outing through two innings.

Already up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, the stage was set for the Mariners to move to within one win of a first ever Al Pennant and World Series berth. Then it all went terribly, terribly wrong, with Kirby making the type of history no one wants to be associated with.

Kirby’s nightmare started in the bottom of the third when he allowed a two-run homer from Andrés Giménez, to tie the game at 2-2 in front of a stunned T-Mobile Park crowd of 46,471 taking in a first home ALCS game since 2001. For some context, Giménez was hitting ninth in the Blue Jays’ lineup and hadn’t produced a homer since Aug. 27.

Clearly rattled, things only got worse from there for Kirby, as he loaded the bases and allowed the Blue Jays to take their first lead of the night at 3-2 thanks to a wild pitch. Daulton Varsho then hit a two-out, two-run double to make it 5-2 to the visitors midway through the third inning.

George Kirby unable to recover

Unfortunately for Kirby, managing to finally escape the third inning didn’t end his nightmare, as he gave up a solo blast from George Springer in the top of the fourth to increase the Blue Jays’ advantage to 6-2. It was at this point that you could have made the case to take the righty out of the game, as he quite clearly had lost his confidence.

However, the decision was made to keep Kirby in for the top of the fifth and the Mariners’ were subsequently made to pay (even more). A leadoff blast from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made it 7-2 and Kirby was only finally removed when he walked the next batter, Anthony Santander.

Santander would go on to score himself to increase the Blue Jays’ advantage to 8-2 and it resulted in Kirby making history in the worst manner possible. The righty’s eight earned runs were the most ever allowed by a Mariners starter in postseason franchise history, while also matching the most allowed by a pitcher in a postseason game since earned runs began being tracked all the way back in 1913.

Blue Jays continue to pile on the Mariners

It was a truly devastating turn of events for a Mariners team which entered the evening full of confidence and momentum, and they would not recover. Carlos Vargas, Caleb Ferguson and Luke Jackson combined to pitch the rest of the game and didn’t do much better in allowing 10 hits, a walk and five more earned runs.

Offensively for the Mariners, Randy Arozarena managed to add a solo blast and Cal Raleigh hit his 63rd home run of the year, but it was too little too late as the Blue Jays completed a dominating and well-deserved 13-4 win. This was helped by Shane Bieber overcoming what had been a challenging start to his outing and looking more like the pitcher who won the 2020 Cy Young.

A somber Dan Wilson spoke to the media postgame and discussed how Kirby’s outing went from a great start to a disastrous conclusion. The Mariners manager said:

“The first couple innings I thought he was dynamite. This is a team that’s going to hurt you if you make mistakes on the plate. It looked like there were a couple that they were able to get to, and really that’s where it was at that point.”

This type of self-capitulation by Kirby just wasn’t anticipated whatsoever, with him seemingly being built for the postseason. He was truly outstanding during his rookie season in 2022 in his first exposure on the big stage of the playoffs, and this form had continued through his first two starts this postseason versus the Detroit Tigers.

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George Kirby owns his poor performance

In fairness to Kirby, at least he didn’t try to make any excuses as he was refreshingly honest about where he went wrong on the night. As per Josh Kirshenbaum of MLB.com, he said:

“I was just trying to be really cute with it. Some sliders leaked over the middle. I missed a heater to Giménez there – tried to go up and I threw it down. … I just wasn’t really executing when they got the guys on base. They were really aggressive when that happened. They made some good swings and I wasn’t really making a lot of good pitches there.”

Again though, it wasn’t just Kirby who struggled on the night, with the pitchers combining to allow 18 hits overall. The only time the Mariners have allowed more hits in franchise postseason history was back in Game Three of the 2001 ALDS, when Cleveland had 19 on the way to winning 17-2.

The question is now whether or not the Mariners can get back on track in Game Four and move to within one win or their inaugural World Series berth? Or will the Blue Jays make it two straight and effectively turn this into a best-of-three series and with homefield advantage reestablished.

In this respect it’s been interesting that the road team has won all three games to date in this ALCS. This was not expected heading into the series given that the Blue Jays and Mariners had the best two AL home records during the regular season, combined with both having losing records on their travels.

Mariners remain confident despite the loss

There really is no way of knowing how the series will play out from here, but Kirby isn’t going to get down. Alluding to his confidence in his teammates, he said:

“One loss doesn’t discourage us. No one said it’s going to be easy. Losses are part of the game, and we’re going to come back tomorrow ready to hit, ready to pitch and ready for Game Four.”

Luis Castillo will get the nod for the Mariners in Game Four and he’s been tremendous this season at T-Mobile Park, as highlighted by a 2.45 ERA. The Blue Jays will counter with Max Scherzer, who does have three Cy Youngs to his name, but is no longer at the same level and has had a tough season in Toronto.

Even with the loss the Mariners are still in a strong position at least historically, with only one AL team ever coming back from 2-0 down, winning Game Three and going on to win a seven-game ALCS. However, as per the team’s ongoing mantra about the job not being finished, they won’t be taking the Blue Jays for granted; something which will have only been reinforced after being dominated 13-4 at home.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

What’s the vibe for you now following the setback in Game Three? Do you have confidence in the Mariners bouncing back to take Game Four, or are you concerned the Blue Jays will win again on Thursday evening and tie the series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.