Blue Jays smash 5 HRs in rout, trim Mariners' ALCS lead to 2-1 - ESPN

SEATTLE — Somewhere along the 2,100-mile flight from Toronto to Seattle, the Blue Jays found their bats.

Somewhere along the journey west, Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins also sent manager John Schneider a video of the 1996 World Series — a series in which the New York Yankees lost the first two games at home only to rally and win the next four.

The message: This series is not over.

The Blue Jays, after losing the first two games of the American League Championship Series at home, tattooed baseballs all over T-Mobile Park on Wednesday evening, smashing five home runs and four doubles in a 13-4 rout of the Seattle Mariners to get back in the series and avoid facing an elimination game Thursday.

It always helps when the big guy does his thing — the big guy being Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Blue Jays' $500 million man who is the centerpiece of their lineup. He went 4-for-4 with a home run to center field, a screaming double off the left-field wall, another double into the left-center gap and a mere single up the middle. The exit velocities of the four hits: 108 mph, 106 mph, 105 mph and 103 mph.

After going 0-for-7 in the first two games against Seattle, Vladdy Jr. is back — and so are the Blue Jays.

«He's one of the best hitters on Earth,» said teammate Addison Barger. «When he's on, it's scary. I feel bad for the pitchers.»

Guerrero wasn't the one only crushing the ball in Game 3. After mustering just eight hits in the first two losses, the Blue Jays knew their game plan: Get the ball in the air more often — and hit it hard when you do, like they did against the Yankees in the ALDS, when they hit .338 and scored 34 runs in four games, with Guerrero hitting three home runs and driving in nine runs. They did just that,