TORONTO — The Seattle Mariners played 15 innings on Saturday to clinch a trip here for the American League Championship Series. On Saturday, they flew across the continent, arriving at their hotel near midnight after a three-hour flight delay.
For all of that, they were strong, sharp and splendid on Sunday, stifling the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1, in Game 1 of the ALCS at Rogers Centre.
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Starter Bryce Miller, working on three days’ rest for the first time in his career, allowed a homer on his first pitch and then nothing else over six masterful innings. After George Springer connected in the first, Miller held the Blue Jays to one single and three walks, easily the best of his 20 starts this season.
The Mariners had managed just two first-inning singles off Kevin Gausman until the sixth inning, when Cal Raleigh canceled out Springer’s blast with a two-out homer. Jorge Polanco — whose single capped Friday’s marathon clincher against the Detroit Tigers — took care of the rest.
Polanco drove in the go-ahead run again on Sunday, singling in the sixth to bring home Julio Rodríguez, who had walked to chase Gausman and gone to second on a wild pitch
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