Eugenio Suárez picked the perfect moment to rediscover his power swing. Suárez hit a go-ahead grand slam after Cal Raleigh’s tying homer in a five-run eighth inning, rallying the Seattle Mariners to a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at T-Mobile Park.
The win gave the Mariners a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series and pushed them to within one victory of their first-ever World Series appearance. It was a night of long-awaited redemption and late-inning electricity for a franchise chasing history.
Suárez, who entered the night mired in a 6-for-50 slump, delivered two of the biggest swings of his season — a solo homer in the second inning and a grand slam in the eighth that blew the game open and sent the sellout Seattle crowd into a frenzy.
“Obviously, this is the biggest home run of my career,” Suárez said. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. It was awesome to hit that grand slam to give the win to my team and to the fans. They’ve been here supporting us all year long.”
The Mariners’ rally began with their switch-hitting slugger behind the plate.
Raleigh, batting right-handed for the first time in the series, led off the bottom of the eighth by crushing a 2-0 changeup from Toronto reliever Brendon Little. The 348-foot drive soared 155 feet into the air and hung for 6.7 seconds before dropping just over the left-field wall to tie the game 2-2. It was Raleigh’s fourth home run of the postseason — and perhaps his most timely.
Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor followed with walks, chasing Little from the game. Reliever Seranthony Domínguez entered and promptly hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch to load the bases. That set the stage for Suárez, who fouled off a 2-2 fastball before launching an opposite-field shot to right that landed several rows deep — his fourth grand slam of the year and third home run of the playoffs.
T-Mobile Park shook as Suárez rounded the bases, pumping his fists toward the dugout while his teammates erupted in celebration.
“Suárez has been grinding, but he’s the kind of hitter who can change a game with one swing,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He did that twice tonight.”
Seattle starter Bryce Miller threw 4-plus innings of shutout ball before yielding to Matt Brash after Addison Barger’s leadoff single in the fifth. George Springer put Toronto on top 1-0 with an RBI double, but later left the game in the seventh after being hit on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph sinker from Bryan Woo. Manager John Schneider said Springer suffered a right knee contusion and is “day-to-day.”
Woo, pitching for the first time since September 19 due to pectoral tightness, surrendered Ernie Clement’s RBI single in the sixth that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead. The Blue Jays had chances to extend the margin but went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Seattle’s defense also shined in the fourth, when Raleigh turned a rare 2-3 double play — just the second of its kind in postseason history. With the bases loaded and one out, Clement tapped a dribbler in front of the plate. Raleigh stepped on home for the force and fired to first for the inning-ending double play. The only other 2-3 DP in playoff history? It came in Game 2 of the 2000 ALCS — also by a Mariners catcher, Dan Wilson, who now manages the club.
“That’s just poetic,” Wilson said with a smile. “Same play, same franchise, 25 years later.”
Now, the Mariners stand on the doorstep of their first World Series since entering Major League Baseball in 1977.
Game 6 shifts back to Toronto on Sunday night, with the Blue Jays facing elimination at home and Seattle eyeing a chance to make history.
“It’s not over yet,” Suárez said. “We’ve got one more to go — and we’re ready.”
