Blue Jays’ margin for error narrows after blowout loss to Mariners
Monday’s loss left the Blue Jays with lots to lament and more to work on.
Trey Yesavage, making the fifth big-league start of his career and second in the post-season after his dominant 11-strikeout outing against the New York Yankees in the ALDS, couldn’t replicate his past success this time.
He looked to be off to a good start when his 1-2 splitter caught enough of the outer edge that even Randy Arozarena started walking to dugout before realizing home-plate umpire Doug Eddings didn’t call it strike three. Two pitches later, Yesavage hit Arozarena, Cal Raleigh followed with a walk and Julio Rodriguez yanked a middle-up splitter over the wall in left field for the first homer Yesavage has allowed since Aug. 8 when he was at double-A New Hampshire.
After a one-out single by Josh Naylor, whose two-run homer in a three-run seventh really opened things up, Braydon Fisher began warming. But Yesavage recovered to strike out Eugenio Suarez and Dominic Canzone to end a gruelling 33-pitch inning.
The Blue Jays pulled themselves, and a crowd of 44,814, back into the game during the bottom half against Logan Gilbert, back on the mound after throwing 34 pitches of relief during Friday night’s 15-inning win over the Detroit Tigers. George Springer doubled and scored when Naylor tossed away the relay on a Nathan Lukes infield single, while Alejandro Kirk’s RBI single later in the frame made it a one-run game.
In the next inning, Lukes — who had to leave Game 1 after fouling a ball off his right knee — ripped an RBI single that pulled the Blue Jays level, essentially cleaning the slate.
Yesavage put up zeroes in the third and fourth innings but with his velocity dipping, he still came back out for a third turn through lineup. Arozarena opened the fifth with a groundball up the middle that went for a single and took second when Andres Gimenez’s errant throw hit Suarez, who was sitting at the opening to the visitor’s dugout.
After an unsuccessful challenge, perhaps buying time for Louis Varland to warm up, the Blue Jays walked Raleigh and brought in the hard-throwing right-hander, who’s pitched in each of the team’s six post-season games.
Like Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, this one didn’t go well. After a Rodriguez strikeout, Jorge Polanco, who had two RBI singles in Game 1, caught a down-and-away 98.1 m.p.h. fastball and clubbed it over the wall in right-centre to open a 6-3 lead.
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Blue Jays’ margin for error narrows after blowout loss to Mariners
Shi Davidi
@shidavidi
October 13, 2025 – 8:46pm
Polanco blasts three-run homer to put Mariners back in front
Watch as Jorge Polanco gets all of one, sending it over the wall for a three-run shot to reestablish the Seattle Mariners’ lead at 6-3 over the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth inning of Game 2.
Play Video
Watch as Jorge Polanco gets all of one, sending it over the wall for a three-run shot to reestablish the Seattle Mariners’ lead at 6-3 over the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth inning of Game 2.
TORONTO — The ability to turn the page on a bad outing — to flush the previous day and reset as if nothing happened — that the Toronto Blue Jays have prided themselves on is set to get really tested now that their season is on the line.
Down 2-0 to the Seattle Mariners in an American League Championship Series rapidly slipping away after Monday evening’s 10-3 loss, the Blue Jays’ margin-for-error in the best-of-seven isn’t down to zero, but it’s pretty close. History isn’t on their side — teams to go up 2-0 in best-of-sevens have won 78 of 93 series. Road teams to take a 2-0 leads are 26-4 closing out the series.
Daunting as those numbers may be, the bigger issue is that the Mariners simply executed at a much higher level over 24 fateful hours before a pair of stunned sellout crowds at Rogers Centre. The nitpicking over manager John Schneider’s in-game moves comes with the territory, but it also overlooks how the Blue Jays couldn’t pin down a Seattle offence taking its best damage swings, while the Blue Jays’ lineup hit a wall against a dominant pitching staff — a bad recipe anytime, but especially in the post-season, when the runway to rally is short.
A shift west gives the Blue Jays a chance to catch their breath Tuesday before hitting T-Mobile Park for Wednesday’s Game 3 (Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT), when Shane Bieber starts against George Kirby and tries to pull his team back into this series.
Mariners’ Rodriguez opens scoring with first-inning three-run blast
Watch as Seattle Mariners outfielder, Julio Rodriguez, opens the scoring in Game 2 of the ALCS with a three-run blast to left field.
Play Video
Monday’s loss left the Blue Jays with lots to lament and more to work on.
Trey Yesavage, making the fifth big-league start of his career and second in the post-season after his dominant 11-strikeout outing against the New York Yankees in the ALDS, couldn’t replicate his past success this time.
He looked to be off to a good start when his 1-2 splitter caught enough of the outer edge that even Randy Arozarena started walking to dugout before realizing home-plate umpire Doug Eddings didn’t call it strike three. Two pitches later, Yesavage hit Arozarena, Cal Raleigh followed with a walk and Julio Rodriguez yanked a middle-up splitter over the wall in left field for the first homer Yesavage has allowed since Aug. 8 when he was at double-A New Hampshire.
After a one-out single by Josh Naylor, whose two-run homer in a three-run seventh really opened things up, Braydon Fisher began warming. But Yesavage recovered to strike out Eugenio Suarez and Dominic Canzone to end a gruelling 33-pitch inning.
The Blue Jays pulled themselves, and a crowd of 44,814, back into the game during the bottom half against Logan Gilbert, back on the mound after throwing 34 pitches of relief during Friday night’s 15-inning win over the Detroit Tigers. George Springer doubled and scored when Naylor tossed away the relay on a Nathan Lukes infield single, while Alejandro Kirk’s RBI single later in the frame made it a one-run game.
In the next inning, Lukes — who had to leave Game 1 after fouling a ball off his right knee — ripped an RBI single that pulled the Blue Jays level, essentially cleaning the slate.
Blue Jays’ Lukes knocks in Clement with RBI single
Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes singles home Ernie Clement in the bottom of the second inning to tie the Seattle Mariners in Game 2 of the ALCS.
Play Video
Blue Jays’ Lukes knocks in Clement with RBI single
Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes singles home Ernie Clement in the bottom of the second inning to tie the Seattle Mariners in Game 2 of the ALCS.
Play Video
Yesavage put up zeroes in the third and fourth innings but with his velocity dipping, he still came back out for a third turn through lineup. Arozarena opened the fifth with a groundball up the middle that went for a single and took second when Andres Gimenez’s errant throw hit Suarez, who was sitting at the opening to the visitor’s dugout.
After an unsuccessful challenge, perhaps buying time for Louis Varland to warm up, the Blue Jays walked Raleigh and brought in the hard-throwing right-hander, who’s pitched in each of the team’s six post-season games.
Like Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, this one didn’t go well. After a Rodriguez strikeout, Jorge Polanco, who had two RBI singles in Game 1, caught a down-and-away 98.1 m.p.h. fastball and clubbed it over the wall in right-centre to open a 6-3 lead.
J.P. Crawford’s RBI single in the sixth off Mason Fluharty, after centre-fielder Daulton Varsho got twisted up on a Mitch Garver drive off the wall that went for a triple, extended the advantage, while Crawford’s sacrifice fly followed Naylor’s homer in the seventh for a 10-3 edge.
As if the score wasn’t bad enough, the Blue Jays ran through six relievers behind Yesavage, including 1.2 clean innings from Chris Bassitt.
There may be a price to pay for their heavy bullpen usage the deeper this series gets and that’s in contrast to the Mariners, who watched all-star Bryan Woo throw an encouraging live BP session before the game, positioning him to factor in a possible Game 5.
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, will use Tuesday’s downtime to rest their relievers and outfielder Anthony Santander, a late scratch with lower back tightness. Before that news broke and well before the game started, Schneider praised him team’s ability to shake off the highs and lows of post-season baseball, something that caught up with the wild-card clubs of 2022 and 2023.
“These guys don’t want the season to end, you know what I mean?” he said. “Whatever the outcome is, I feel like these guys all want to get an Airbnb somewhere and hang out for the winter. That means a lot. They have shown they’re really good at moving on to the next thing, which is hard to do.
But I think they’re very well-equipped to just say, OK, what’s important now. I’ve been saying it all year: what do I need to do now to help us win?
“You go out and you play your game, you compete your ass off, and you see what happens. They’re going to continue to do it. I’ve got all the faith in the world in them. I’m really excited to see how they come out today.”
The Blue Jays definitely didn’t like what happened afterwards and they’ll have to sit on it until Wednesday, when they’ll need a win to keep thoughts of off-season bookings away
