Bryce Miller, Jorge Polanco lead Seattle Mariners to 3-1 win over Blue Jays in Game 1 of ALCS

Bryce Miller pitched a stellar six innings for Seattle, Jorge Polanco drove in a pair of runs and the Mariners grabbed a 1-0 lead in the ALCS with a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday night.

Miller rebounded from a lead-off home run to George Springer on his very first pitch to allow just one more hit across six innings. It would be the only two hits Toronto would manage against the Mariners' pitching staff as Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz shut down the Blue Jays lineup in relief.

"To give us six strong innings, especially coming out of that first inning and the ability that he had tonight to kind of close the door was phenomenal, and then the bullpen took it from there. Just an unbelievable job on the mound for us tonight," manager Dan Wilson said.

Cal Raleigh hit his second home run of the playoffs against Kevin Gausman in the sixth inning to tie the game, and Jorge Polanco delivered RBI singles in the sixth and eighth innings to give Seattle the series lead.

The Mariners entered Game 1 on their heels after having to expend so much effort in Friday's Game 5 of the ALDS just to earn their trip to Toronto. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays had been off since wrapping up their series with the New York Yankees on Wednesday night.

Miller got the start for Seattle as George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo all pitched in Game 5, and Bryan Woo isn't yet available as he works back from injury.

Springer got Canada on its feet as he pounced on a 97 mph fastball on the outside edge of the plate and drove it over the right field wall for a 1-0 Blue Jays lead.

"First pitch home run, definitely not ideal, especially on the road. We also joke pretty often that a first pitch home run doesn't count, so we're going with that. It doesn't count," Miller said with a laugh.

Miller had to battle heavily to keep the inning from spiraling away.

Nathan Lukes battled for a 12-pitch walk on the heels of Springer's blast as the prospect of an extremely brief outing for Miller began to fester. A 107 mph line out to center field by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. provided a brief respite before another walk to Addison Barger ramped up the pressure.

Miller got Alejandro Kirk to pop out before a 103 mph liner to center from Daulton Varsho allowed the Mariners to escape further damage in the first.

"We had a long at-bat, 12-pitch at-bat, ended up in a walk, and made a lot of pitches that at-bat," Miller said. "The first inning went pretty long, but I felt like I made some good pitches that inning and had some stuff to build off of moving forward and was able to settle down afterwards."

It was a 27-pitch first inning that made the prospect of a lengthy outing slim.

But Miller had other plans.

A seven-pitch second inning allowed Miller to get his outing back on track. After Anthony Santander's single in the second inning, Miller would retire the next 13 batters he would face before a second walk of Barger with two outs in the sixth inning.

After a mound visit from pitching coach Pete Woodworth, Miller remained in the game and got Kirk to fly out to left field for the finishing touches on a terrific six innings.

Miller had never pitched on short rest before in his career with the Mariners, returning to the mound just four days after his Game 4 starter against the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS. Miller allowed just two hits with three walks and three strikeouts on 76 pitches and the lone run on Springer's home run on his very first pitch.

"I think the hope was to get through four (innings), and then we could start working in the bullpen and getting those guys in there and holding the lead if we had it, whatever," Wilson said. "But like I said, the way it kept coming out of his hand, the way he kept going out there and throwing up zeros was huge. It was evident that he wasn't wanting to come out of that one, and you didn't want him to come out of the game because he was just attacking, and it was awesome."

Kevin Gausman was equally strong for the Blue Jays after an uncomfortable first inning as well. Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez both singled off Gausman as Seattle quickly put runners on the corners with one out. However, a chopper to third base by  Polanco saw Barger thrown home to get Raleigh at the plate for the second out that kept the Mariners off the board.

Gausman retired 15 straight hitters for Seattle, but he couldn't get the 16th, and it proved to be a big one for Seattle.

A 'Big Dumper' even.

Raleigh blasted a 2-2 splitter from Gausman deep into the right field seats for a solo home run that tied the game at 1-1 in the sixth inning. 

"I think every time he comes to the plate I'm considering (walking him), to be honest with you," Schneider said. "I think if it comes down to – great hitters and hitters in general, I think they capitalize on mistakes, and that split from Kev kind of just leaked back over the middle a little bit.

"But I think Julio Rodríguez is a really good hitter, too, so in real time, you're trying to – if Kev executes, I think he gets him out like he did the at-bat before, so we wanted to let him try to do it again."

Raleigh continues to torment Toronto and Gausman, especially at the Rogers Centre. It was Raleigh's ninth home run of his career in Toronto and his fourth off of Gausman. It was the first home run allowed by Gausman in his last 41 ⅔ innings pitched for Toronto.

It was Raleigh's second homer of the postseason and 62nd home run of the 2025 campaign.

"The second at-bat he went all splits," Raleigh said. "He's really tough, he's one of the best pitchers in the game. Obviously he's got two elite pitches with the heater and the splitter. They both play really well off each other.

"I just choked up and wasn't trying to do too much. I was just trying to get bat on ball and really put something in play because maybe find a hole and didn't want to punch out again. I was able to put good wood on it. He's a really tough pitcher."

Rodríguez followed Raleigh's homer with a walk off Gausman and Blue Jays manager John Schneider pulled Gausman, turning to left-hander Brendon Little to face Polanco. A wild pitch from Little moved Rodríguez to second, and Polanco's single drove a fastball to left field to score Rodríguez for a 2-1 Mariners lead.

Gausman took the loss for Toronto with two runs allowed on three hits with a walk and five strikeouts over 5 ⅔ innings.

The Blue Jays couldn't muster any real offensive pressure after the first inning, against Miller or the bullpen. Seattle only had to throw 100 total pitches to get the 27 outs from Toronto in the victory. The Blue Jays went 1-for-28 at the plate after Springer's lead-off home run.

Randy Arozarena drew a lead-off walk against Seranthony Domínguez and swiped second and third base on consecutive pitches to put an insurance run 90 feet away. 

Rodríguez walked to put two runners on, and Jorge Polanco came through with his second RBI of the night on a ground ball through the right side of the infield that scored Arozarena for a 3-1 Mariners lead.

That was plenty with the way Seattle was pitching.

Speier, Brash and Muñoz needed just eight pitches each to get through their respective innings as the Mariners grabbed a series lead in the ALCS for just the third time in franchise history.

Seattle won Game 1 of the ALCS in 1995 and 2000, but would go on to lose both series in six games.

Wilson announced that Logan Gilbert will get the start for Seattle in Game 2 of the series on Monday.

MORE MARINERS NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE

Mariners watch parties in full swing for ALCS game 1

How to Watch Seattle Mariners vs. Toronto Blue Jays in 2025 ALCS

Live updates: Seattle Mariners vs Toronto Blue Jays for ALCS Game 1

Seattle Sports Live: Mariners vs Blue Jays ALCS Game 1 Preview

Seattle Mariners release ALCS roster ahead Toronto games

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