SEATTLE (AP) — It was a productive night for George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Two of Toronto’s biggest stars led the way for the Blue Jays in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series on Wednesday.
Springer and Guerrero each hit a solo shot as Toronto finished with five homers overall. Springer had three hits, and Guerrero went 4 for 4 and scored three times in a 13-4 victory over the Mariners.
“It feels great obviously, but for me, it’s just about winning,” Guerrero said through a translator. “I’m very happy we won the game. I never think about myself.”
The Blue Jays dropped the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Toronto, ramping up the pressure on the AL East champions for Game 3. Springer went 2 for 8 with a solo homer in the first two games, and Guerrero was 0 for 7 with a walk.
But the two sluggers played a major role in a fast start for Toronto in Seattle.
Springer hit a two-out solo homer off George Kirby in the fourth, driving a 94.8 mph sinker deep to center. The 431-foot shot was Springer’s 22nd postseason homer, moving him into a tie with Bernie Williams for fourth on the career list.
The four-time All-Star has three homers this postseason. He also connected on Bryce Miller’s first pitch of Game 1.
“I think as a team, it was a good overall game,” Springer said. “It’s on to the next.”
Guerrero led off the fifth with a 406-foot drive off Kirby that went just over the glove of a leaping Julio Rodríguez at the wall in center.
The five-time All-Star reached on an infield single in the first. He doubled and scored on Daulton Varsho’s two-run double in Toronto’s five-run third.
Guerrero was a triple away from a postseason cycle when he batted in the eighth with Toronto holding a 12-2 lead. He hit a liner into the gap in right-center that rolled all the way to the wall, but third base coach Carlos Febles signaled for Guerrero to stay at second.
Guerrero, who agreed to a $500 million, 14-year contract in April, responded with a friendly holler in the direction of Febles and the Toronto dugout.
“I was kind of asking him if he thought I was going to make it to third,” Guerrero said. “He told me no.”
Guerrero and Springer both scored on Alejandro Kirk’s three-run homer in Toronto’s four-run sixth.
The 26-year-old Guerrero was terrific in Toronto’s AL Division Series win against the New York Yankees, batting .529 (9 for 17) with three homers and nine RBIs in four games.
“Every day I go out there and give all I have for my team, for my teammates, and thank God everything came out good today, and I did good,” Guerrero said.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
By LUKE OLSON
Associated Press
