Mariners Win Game One Over Blue Jays

Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images

October 12, 2025

The Seattle Mariners won Game One of the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays Sunday in at Rogers Centre. This was thanks to a great short-rest performance from Mariners starter Bryce Miller, who gave up one earned run through six innings.

Mariners Vs. Blue Jays Game Summary

Despite multiple hits in the first inning, the Mariners fell short of scoring. George Springer made them pay for it, sending a souvenir over the right-field fence on Miller’s first pitch of the game.

Nathan Lukes followed with the polar opposite in terms of pitch count, forcing a 12-pitch walk. Miller needed 27 pitches simply to get through the first, with two of those outs being hard-hit line drives to Julio Rodriguez in center field.

Just when people thought they were in for nine innings of an offensive shootout, Miller, and Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman pitched some of their best games this year. Both guys went on double-digit “hitters retired” streaks.

Gausman’s streak ended at 16 batters in spectacular fashion, all thanks to Cal Raleigh. The Big Dumper got a hanging splitter on a 2-2 count and absolutely crushed it 422 feet to tie the game at one.

A walk and a wild pitch put Rodriguez at second base. Jorge Polanco found his pitch against left-hander Brendon Little and drove it to left for an RBI single. This put the Mariners up 2–1.

After a scoreless seventh, Polanco came up to bat once again with a runner on second base. Once again, he delivered with yet another RBI single to bring the game to 3–1.

From there, Matt Brash and Andres Muñoz shut the door completely on a Jays comeback in the eighth and ninth innings respectively, securing the Game One win for the Mariners.

What Went Right for the Mariners

Miller’s Outing

The Mariners needed a quality start from Miller after the 15-inning classic against the Detroit Tigers on October 10. Despite the home run from Springer, Miller pitched one heck of a game afterwards. Even if the Blue Jays were still occasionally making some hard contact.

“It was one of those situations where you knew the bullpen was ready to bail him out at any time, but he just kept coming out, and he kept throwing the ball so well,” Mariners skipper Dan Wilson said in his postgame press conference. “So 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.”

What Went Wrong for the Mariners

The First Inning

Leaving fastballs in the zone for playoff George Springer is a bold strategy, even if he was only batting .176 this postseason heading into the game. Springer has built a legacy at this point as one of the best postseason hitters of the last decade.

“Yeah, Georgie has a good plan. He’s been doing this for a while. That moment was cool,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said postgame.

The Blue Jays were also very close to scoring more than one in the first, but couldn’t.

What Went Right for the Blue Jays

Gausman’s Outing

Kevin Gausman, despite the bomb from Raleigh, pitched very well. Across 5 2/3 innings, he allowed three hits, two earned runs, and one walk with five strikeouts. Shame that performance saddled him with the loss.

What Went Wrong for the Blue Jays

Bullpen Blows It

After Gausman’s untimely exit thanks to Raleigh and J-Rod, the bullpen did nothing to make matters better. Little immediately gave up the go-ahead run, while trade deadline acquisition Seranthony Dominguez gave up the late insurance run. Both of those runs came at the hands of Polanco, who has driven in runs with five of his six hits this postseason.

“But all of his at-bats, he’s coming up in situations where he’s got a chance to do some damage, and not trying to do too much, and has put together just some huge, huge RBIs for us,” Wilson said.

Innings 2-9 Offensively

When an offense musters more baserunners in the first inning than in the other eight innings combined, that’s pretty bad. Especially when going against a team who played 15 innings two days prior and had to immediately travel 2000 miles to your home stadium.

Looking Ahead

Miller earned the win as Gausman took the loss, with Muñoz notching the save.

The Mariners, after the win in Game One, will look to take a 2-0 series lead to Seattle when both teams face off once again on Monday at 5:03 pm Eastern/2:03 pm Pacific.