TORONTO — Bryce Miller overcame a shaky first inning and gave the tired Seattle Mariners the start they needed in the American League Championship Series opener.
After allowing a home run by George Springer on his first pitch of the game, Miller threw six sharp innings as the Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1, on Sunday night.
“The year, personally, didn’t go how I had planned and how I had hoped for, but we’re in the ALCS and I got to go out there and set the tone,” Miller said. “I felt great.”
Anthony Santander’s single in the second was the Blue Jays’ only other hit. Mariners pitchers retired 23 of the last 24 Blue Jays to come to the plate.
Cal Raleigh hit a tying solo home run and Jorge Polanco had a pair of RBI singles for Seattle.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman was one strike away from getting out of the sixth with a 1-0 lead, but Raleigh hit a 420-foot drive to right-center on a 2-and-2 pitch with two outs.
“That was a big lift,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.
Seattle Mariners Jorge Polanco connects for an RBI single as Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Seranthony Domínguez (48) follows through during the eighth inning in Game 1 of baseball’s American League Championship Series, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Toronto. Credit: AP/David J. Phillip
After Gausman walked Julio Rodriguez and lefthander Brendon Little threw a wild pitch, Polanco delivered an RBI single while batting righthanded. He added another in the eighth while hitting lefthanded against Seranthony Dominguez.
Polanco also had the winning hit in the 15th inning of Game 5 of the Mariners’ Division Series victory over the Tigers on Friday night. “He’s been huge from both sides of the plate,” Raleigh said.
Miller — who escaped a two-on jam in a 27-pitch first inning — Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andres Munoz threw a combined 100 pitches less than 48 hours after the Mariners needed 209 pitches to outlast Detroit in ALDS Game 5.
“The job Bryce Miller did tonight was phenomenal,” Wilson said. “After that first inning, he went into a different gear. You saw him getting ahead, using all his stuff.”
Seattle Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez (44) congratulates teammate Cal Raleigh, right, as Raleigh crosses home plate after hitting a solo home run off Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman during the sixth inning in Game 1 of baseball’s American League Championship Series in Toronto, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. Credit: AP/Frank Gunn
Raleigh, who led the majors with 60 home runs in the regular season, hit his ninth homer in 14 games at Rogers Centre. Kevin Gausman had held batters to 0-for-16 on splitters in the postseason before Raleigh’s blast.
“I was trying to get bat on ball, really just trying to put something in play,” said Raleigh, wearing a T-shirt with the words: “JOB’S NOT FINISHED.” “I didn’t want to punch out again.”
Raleigh’s homer was his fourth in 15 at-bats against Gausman. “Up to that point, I’d been throwing the ball really well and had the game right there,” Gausman said. “This one’s on me.”
Gausman was charged with two runs and allowed three hits in 5 2⁄3 innings. “Great hitters capitalize on mistakes,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “That split from Kev just kind of leaked back over the middle a little bit.”
Seattle, the only MLB team to never host a World Series game, played its first ALCS game in 24 years. The Mariners shut down Toronto after the Blue Jays produced 50 hits and 34 runs in their four-game Division Series victory over the Yankees.
“We’re a really good offense,” Schneider said. “Today it just didn’t work out.”
Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 0-for-4 with three groundouts on Sunday after going 9-for-17 with three homers and nine RBIs against the Yankees.
“This is going to be a hard-fought series, man,” Schneider said. “These guys will be ready for it.”
Springer’s 21st postseason home run broke a tie with the Yankees’ Derek Jeter, moving him into sole possession of fifth place on the career list. Manny Ramirez hit a record 29 postseason homers and is trailed by Jose Altuve (27), Kyle Schwarber (23) and Bernie Williams (22).
Springer has 63 leadoff homers in the regular season, second to Rickey Henderson’s record 81.
Seattle’s Eugenio Suarez doubled off the top of the rightfield wall against Louis Varland in the seventh. The 395-foot drive would have been a homer in 15 of 30 big-league ballparks.
Toronto outfielder Nathan Lukes left in the fourth inning after bruising his right knee when he fouled a pitch off it in the first.
“He had a CT scan. Negative for a fracture,” Schneider said. “His knee was pretty sore, obviously. Nate is one of those guys, he doesn’t want to come out of a game ever. I think if he’s medically good to play tomorrow, he’ll be in there.”
Blue Jays rookie righthander Trey Yesavage will start Game 2. In his fourth MLB appearance and first postseason start, Yesavage set a Toronto postseason record by striking out 11 Yankees in 5 1⁄3 hitless innings in Division Series Game 2 on Oct. 4.
Eight strikeouts came on the 22-year-old righthander’s split-fingered fastball. He induced 18 swings and misses, including 11 on the splitter. “He’s definitely something that we’re going to have to figure out,” Wilson said. “The big split, they’re tough pitches, obviously.”
Righthander Logan Gilbert will start for the Mariners after throwing 34 pitches in two innings of relief in ALDS Game 5.
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