SEATTLE – The difference between history and heartbreak can come down to a few feet of flight, and both were on display in the eighth inning of Friday’s Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. One ball is caught at the wall, another just clears it and everything changes.
Down to their final six outs,
Ernie Clement’s run-scoring single had given Toronto a sixth-inning lead, and the infielder thought he might have extended it with a 363-foot drive off Gabe Speier in the eighth. It sent Randy Arozarena to the wall, where the left fielder snagged it with a leaping grab, keeping the score 2-1, which would matter greatly in the bottom of the inning.
“I knew he hit it good,” Speier said. “I saw Randy trickling back, so I thought that he might have a chance to make a play. And then I saw him leave his feet and make the catch. I just threw my arms up, super happy that he made the play. It was a crazy moment.”
Raleigh’s homer in the bottom of the frame didn’t travel as far (348 feet), but it went higher and to the right spot -- a 93.5 mph Brendon Little sinker swatted down the left-field line. It was Raleigh’s fourth blast of the postseason, following a regular season in which the switch-hitting MVP candidate belted 60.
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“When I hit the ball, I thought I got it, and then obviously realized it went so high,” Raleigh said. “So \\[with\\] the roof open, maybe it’s a different result -- I don't know. But I’m glad I got enough of that one.”
Two walks and a hit-by-pitch followed before Suárez -- who had homered in the second to give the Mariners an early 1-0 lead -- crushed a Seranthony Domínguez four-seamer to right field, earning a place alongside vaunted company: He joined Edgar Martinez (1995 ALDS Game 4) as the only Mariners to connect for postseason grand slams.\n\n“You can't say enough about just how good it must feel for Geno, picking up those five RBIs for us today and giving us a victory,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “This was just a great day for him.”
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In any best-of-seven postseason series tied 2-2, the team that has won Game 5 has also gone on to win the series 46 of 67 times (68.9%). In series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams winning Game 5 at home to take a 3-2 lead out on the road have won the series 20 of 33 times (60.6%).
“I don't want these guys to crawl into a hole; that's not who we are,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “We'll get after it on Sunday. We'll be ready to play. I wouldn't have it any other way with this group.”\n\n
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