The Toronto Blue Jays right-hander led the Jays to an important win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.
TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays got the better of the Seattle Mariners on Friday night in an American League Championship Series rematch at Rogers Centre.
Behind great pitching from American League Cy Young hopeful Dylan Cease and a trio of home runs (George Springer, Kazuma Okamoto, Nathan Lukes), the Jays rolled to an important 8-1 victory in the series opener.
With the win, Toronto is now 66-70. The win, coupled with a Cleveland loss, puts them back to 2.5 games back in the battle for the third and final wild card spot in the American League.
Seattle was able to stay at 4.0 games back of Cleveland, though they have their sights on trying to stay competitive in the American League West race.
As for Cease, he was brilliant, despite not appearing to have his best stuff. All of his pitches were 1-2 mph slower than usual for most of the night, but it just didn't matter. He worked six strong innings, giving up just one run on four hits. He walked one and struck out eight.
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Dylan Cease (84) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Rogers Centre. John E. Sokolowski-Imagn ImagesAs noted by MLB on social media, it's the 19th consecutive start for Cease with at least seven strikeouts. That hasn't been done since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson did it in 2001 as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Any time you are in the record books with Johnson, you have done something right, and Cease certainly has. After signing a seven-year, $210 million deal in the offseason, Cease has gone 9-5 with a 2.33 ERA. He now has 217 strikeouts, marking his sixth straight season with 200 strikeouts or more.
Beyond him, the Jays got scoreless relief innings from Mason Fluharty, Paul Sewald and CJ Van Eyk.
Up next
The two teams will play again on Saturday afternoon with first pitch coming at 3:47 p.m. ET. Note that the game time has been pushed back 30 minutes to account for the team's pregame ceremony for Buck Martinez. The former player, manager and broadcaster will be inducted into the team's new Level of Excellence.
Right-hander Jose Soriano, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the Los Angeles Angels will make the start for Toronto.
He'll be opposed by rookie left-hander Kade Anderson, who is making his second career start. Anderson, who owned a 1.06 ERA in the minor leagues, earned a no-decision in his debut. He gave up three earned runs over 5.1 innings against the Chicago Cubs last Saturday.
