George Kirby was in the strike zone – perhaps too much.
Toronto Blue Jays had 18 hits, including five home runs, all within the first three at-bats in a 13-4 rout of the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night that moved them to 2-1 in the AL Championship Series.
Eight of those hits came against Kirby, who hadn't given up that many hits in a start since Sept. 3.
“I will never back down from what I do well, which is going forward and being in the zone,” Kirby said. “And they had a lot of comfortable beats tonight.”
Kirby gave up a tying two-run homer to Andres Jimenez in the third with a five-run infield fastball and a two-run double to Daulton Varsho on a rising fastball.
George Springer scored on a sinker in the fourth and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a slider in the fifth.
Alejandro Kirk added a three-run homer to the opposite field to lead off a fastball from left-hander Caleb Ferguson in the sixth as the Blue Jays joined Tampa Bay in Game 4 of the 2020 World Series as the only teams to homer in four straight innings in the postseason, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Addison Barger singled into the ninth off a Luke Jackson fastball.
“When the lineup starts putting together hits like they have in the past, it becomes contagious,” Ferguson said. “Guys go up there and just make better swings. So a lot of times it goes your way, but today it goes their way.”
Toronto had four runs and eight hits, and Seattle won the first two games in Canada.
“I didn’t do much when they brought the guys to the base,” Kirby said. “They get really aggressive when this happens.”
Seattle pitchers were sixth in the AL with a 3.87 ERA and had a 3.29 ERA in the Division Series against Detroit. Ferguson expressed confidence that they would quickly return to form.
“If there's one thing we've done since I've been here,” Ferguson said, “we've bounced back well together as a team and we've responded well when we get hit in the face a little bit.”
