Blue Jays shut out by Mariners in wild-card opener

Cal Raleigh hit a two-run homer and Luis Castillo threw 7 1/3 shutout innings as the Seattle Mariners blanked the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 in Game 1 of their American League wild-card series on Friday.

Eugenio Suarez had two hits for Seattle and Julio Rodriguez scored twice. George Springer had two of Toronto's seven hits.

Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah struggled in the early going of his first career playoff start. The Mariners took advantage with three quick runs that hushed a sellout crowd at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The cushion was more than enough for Castillo, who allowed six hits and didn't issue a walk over his 108-pitch outing. Reliever Andres Munoz came on to record the last five outs.

The boisterous crowd of 47,402 was in full voice at the start of Toronto's first home playoff game since 2016. Edwin Encarnacion, who hit a walk off homer in the play-in game that year, threw the ceremonial first pitch.

Manoah was dominant at times through the regular season but may have battled some early jitters in the late-afternoon start. He hit Rodriguez in the first at-bat of the game and gave up an RBI double to Suarez.

Raleigh then turned on a full-count pitch to give Seattle a 3-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old.

Castillo, meanwhile, was acquired by the Mariners at the trade deadline for this type of playoff assignment. He set the early tone by retiring the side on groundouts in the opening frame and refused to let Toronto get on track offensively.

The Mariners have some pop at the top of their lineup with Rodriguez — a virtual lock for the American League rookie of the year award — a key offensive anchor. But Seattle's main strength is on the mound with a solid rotation and a bullpen that led the AL in several pitching