Blue Jays pull even vs. Mariners in ALCS behind Max Scherzer - ESPN

SEATTLE — The stuff might not have been vintage Max Scherzer, the three-time Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer who once possessed one of the best fastballs in the game, but the 41-year-old has accumulated a wealth of pitching knowledge during his 18 seasons and more than 3,000 innings in the majors.

Most importantly: The vintage Scherzer intensity remains unmatched.

Scherzer, making his first start of the postseason after a difficult end to the regular season, gave up two runs and three hits over 5⅔ innings to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to an 8-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night to even the American League Championship Series at two games apiece.

Scherzer's famous ferocity was on display in the fifth inning, when manager John Schneider came out for a visit with two outs and a runner on base, after Scherzer had recorded a hard-hit out to right field.

Scherzer screamed at his manager: «I'm good! Let's go!»

Schneider quickly returned to the dugout, one of the shortest mound visits in postseason history. You don't mess with «Mad Max.»

Scherzer struck out Randy Arozarena on a 79 mph curveball to end the inning and then got two outs in the sixth before finally departing after a two-out walk and throwing 87 pitches.

Early on, it didn't look as if Scherzer would last long. In the bottom of the first, he walked Cal Raleigh with one out and then walked Julio Rodriguez on four pitches. A couple of pitchers in the Toronto bullpen started stretching, just in case the inning started to get out of hand.

That was understandable given how Scherzer ended the regular season: He had a 9.00 ERA over his final six starts, giving up 25 runs and eight home runs in 25 innings. In his last start on Sept. 24, he