SEATTLE (AP) — As Eugenio Suárez crossed home plate, he formed a heart with his hands as he has countless times.
Suárez suddenly stopped, pointed toward his wife in the stands behind home plate and took a second to embrace the moment. His bat had brought the Mariners within a victory of the first World Series trip for a team that started play in 1977.
Suárez hit a go-ahead grand slam after Cal Raleigh’s tying drive in a five-run eighth inning, giving the Mariners a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday and a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series.
“I’ve been waiting for games like this my whole career,” Suárez said. “Today, I had it. Today, I had it in front of our crowd, in front of my family, my two daughters, my wife, and the moment is very special right now.”
Suárez also homered in the second inning for Seattle’s first run, and the Mariners became the first home team to win in the series.
Game 6 is at Toronto on Sunday night.
“For our fans, they’ve been waiting a long time for this moment and we’re here to give it to them. We’re here to fight for a World Series,” Suárez said.
Raleigh, a switch-hitting catcher who led the major leagues with 60 home runs during the regular season, was hitting right-handed for the first time in the series when he led off the eighth by pulling a 2-0 sinker from loser Brendon Little.
“I came in and really couldn’t have pitched worse,” Little said.
The 348-foot drive rose 155 feet above the field on a high arc and had a 6.7-second hang time before it dropped over the left field wall at T-Mobile Park.
“It felt like Cal’s ball was in the air for like an hour,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.
Raleigh’s fourth homer of the postseason tied the score 2-2.
“Obviously it was really high, so you never know in this building,” Raleigh said. “Luckily today the roof’s closed.”
Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor walked, and Seranthony Domínguez relieved and hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch.
Suárez fouled off a 2-2 fastball, then hit an opposite-field drive to right, and the ball landed several rows into the seats for his fourth slam this season.
“Obviously, this is the biggest home run of my career,” Suárez said.
Suárez, who had put Seattle ahead in the second against Kevin Gausman, entered the game in a 6-for-50 slump. He was reacquired from Arizona at the trade deadline, finished the regular season with 49 homers and has three in the playoffs.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Suárez said. “It’s been a while (since) I’ve had a game like this today. It was awesome being able to hit that grand slam there to give the win to my team, to the fans. They’ve been here supporting us all year long.”
Seattle’s Bryce Miller was pitching shutout ball when he was removed after allowing Addison Barger’s leadoff single in the fifth, and George Springer hit an RBI double off Matt Brash.
Springer left in the seventh when he was hit on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph sinker from Bryan Woo.
“He’s got a right knee contusion. He had X-rays, which were negative, which is a good thing.,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “George is about as tough as they come. I think he’ll have to really, really be hurting to not be in the lineup on Sunday.”
Pitching for the first time since Sept. 19 after recovering from pectoral tightness, Woo allowed Ernie Clement’s go-ahead single in the sixth.
Gabe Speier got the win with a perfect, nine-pitch eighth inning. Toronto wasted many chances, going 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position.
Raleigh turned only the second 2-3 grounded double into play in postseason history when Clement tapped the ball onto the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning. Raleigh grabbed the ball with a foot on the plate for a forceout, then threw to first.
The prior 2-3 DP in Game 2 of the 2000 ALCS was turned by Wilson with the New York Yankees’ Bernie Williams at the plate.
“That’s what he’s done all season long,” Wilson said of Raleigh, “both sides of the ball.”
Up next
Rookie RHP Trey Yesavage, who started Game 2 of both the AL Division Series, will start for the Blue Jays in Game 6. The Mariners scored five runs off the 22-year-old on Monday.
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