Blue Jays bash five home runs in 13-4 blowout of Seattle Mariners in Game 3 of ALCS

SEATTLE - The Seattle Mariners delivered the opening haymaker in Game 3 of the ALCS, but promptly got knocked out by the bats of the Toronto Blue Jays in a 13-4 romp on Wednesday night.

The Blue Jays hit five home runs on the night, including three off starter George Kirby to stagger the Mariners in their push for a first World Series trip in franchise history.

Toronto tagged Kirby for eight runs on eight hits with two walks and just four strikeouts over four-plus innings on Wednesday night. It's just the fourth time in Kirby's career that he's allowed at least eight runs in a start.

"I’m never going to stray away from what I do well, which is get ahead and be in the zone," Kirby said. "But they had a lot of comfortable at-bats tonight. So maybe (I need to) just throw it inside a little more or get them off of something or a different look with the first pitch."

The Blue Jays scored 12 unanswered runs against the Mariners after Julio Rodríguez gave Seattle an early lead with a two-run homer in the first inning. However, it would be the only damage the Mariners could muster against Toronto starter Shane Bieber.

Bieber allowed just two hits after the first inning, allowing two runs on four total hits with a lone walk and eight strikeouts.

"It looked like he just was able to get comfortable, get into a bit of a rhythm and find his secondaries, and once that happened they were able to get the lead, and then he was able to protect it," manager Dan Wilson said.

The victory gets the Blue Jays off the mat and back into the series. The Mariners still lead the series 2-1 through three games, but the offensive barrage provided by Toronto will give the Blue Jays optimism they can overcome the early deficit in the series.

Rodríguez's blast had T-Mobile Park rocking early as well, with fans quickly believing that a commanding 3-0 series lead could be on its way. Instead, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Andrés Giménez powered an explosive effort that crushed Kirby and the Mariners.

Guerrero reached base in all five of his plate appearances, blasting a solo home run off Kirby in the fifth with a pair of doubles, a single, and an intentional walk. 

The outing began to fall apart for Kirby in the third inning as all nine Blue Jays hitters made a trip to the plate in the frame.

Ernie Clement's lead-off double into the left field corner was followed by a two-run blast from Giménez to right-center field to tie the game at 2-2. Giménez had three hits on the night from the No. 9 spot in Toronto's order.

A Nathan Lukes single and Guerrero laser off the left field wall put two more runners in scoring position for the Blue Jays. After walking Alejandro Kirk to load the bases, Kirby threw a slider in the dirt for a wild pitch that saw Lukes score to give Toronto a 3-2 lead.

Daulton Varsho then ripped a double off the top of the wall in right field that scored Guerrero and Kirk for a 5-2 Blue Jays lead.

And it just spiraled from there for Kirby and the Mariners.

Kirby struck out Clement and Giménez to open the fourth inning as he looked to rebound, but Springer roasted a 96 mph fastball to straightaway center field for a solo home run and a 6-2 lead.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson left Kirby in to open the fifth inning and Guerrero delivered the third home run of the game for Toronto, sending a shot to center field that just snuck over the glove of a leaping Rodríguez for a 7-2 advantage.

A walk to Anthony Santander followed and Kirby's day was done without recording an out in the fifth.

"I wasn’t really executing when they got the guys on base, and they’re really aggressive when that happens," Kirby said. "So they made some good swings, and I wasn’t really making a lot of good pitches there in the third and fourth."

Carlos Vargas allowed two more hits as Santander came around to score for Kirby's final run of the night.

"The first couple innings I thought he was dynamite and really came out at good location and good heaters coming out of his hand and was able to keep 'em in check," Wilson said. "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."

While Kirby was struggling, Bieber was rolling. After Jorge Polanco followed Rodríguez's first-inning homer with a one-out double, Bieber retired 12 of the next 13 batters he faced. Rodríguez had a single in the third inning and J.P. Crawford had a one-out single in the fifth inning as Seattle's offense stagnated against Bieber.

"To me, biggest inning of the game was the second," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. "He strikes out the side, kind of keeps the game in check a little bit. And then he had really good command. His fastball, he spotted it. The breaking balls were awesome, slider especially. Changeup too. I thought that he got into a really good rhythm, retired a bunch in a row there. But the second inning to kind of keep the game where it should be, that's just a sign of a veteran pitcher."

Even though Bieber was pitching well, the Blue Jays turned to their bullpen after the sixth inning to give Bieber an early exit after 88 pitches. He allowed just the two runs on Rodríguez's homer alongside four hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

"It was a bad mistake to Julio," Bieber said. "I'm happy with the pitch selection, just was supposed to be down and away, ended up leaking all the way across the plate. He put a great swing on it. Obviously, he's a great hitter. So less than ideal start to the outing.

"But I came into the dugout and told the guys like, ‘Pick me up, like, I got good stuff tonight,’ and they definitely listened and picked me up in a huge way, was able to go back out there in that second inning and kind of reestablish what I wanted to do."

An RBI groundout from Lukes in the sixth inning made it 9-2, and Kirk followed with a three-run blast off Caleb Ferguson for a 10-run Blue Jays lead.

Seattle did claw a couple runs back late in the contest against Toronto reliever Yariel Rodríguez. Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh had back-to-back home runs with one out in the eighth inning to snap the run of 12 unanswered for Toronto.

For Raleigh, he became the first player with a 60-home run regular season to have at least three home runs in the same postseason.

However, even that was short-lived for Seattle.

Addison Barger pushed the lead back to nine in the top of the ninth inning with a solo home run off Luke Jackson for the 13-4 final.

The Mariners will look to fight back in Game 4 of the series on Thursday as Luis Castillo takes the ball for Seattle. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer will start for Toronto, but he's not the pitcher he once was. Scherzer has allowed at least four runs in five of his last six starts to finish the season.

MORE MARINERS NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE

Fans spend hump day cheering for Seattle Mariners on home turf for ALCS Game 3

Seattle Mariners vs Toronto Blue Jays: ALCS Game 3 live updates

Mariners ready for ALCS Game 3 vs Blue Jays

Here's how much last-minute Seattle Mariners tickets cost at T-Mobile Park

Pilot draws Mariners trident over Seattle with flight path

To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.

Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.

Seattle MarinersSportsMLB