Mariners rout Blue Jays, take 2-0 ALCS lead; Dodgers hold off Brewers for 1-0 series lead

TORONTO (AP) — Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco hit three-run homers, Josh Naylor added a two-run drive and the Seattle Mariners took a 2-0 AL Championship Series lead by routing the Toronto Blue Jays 10-3 on Monday.

Seattle, the only big league team never to host a World Series game, headed home for Wednesday’s Game 3 needing two more wins in the best-of-seven series to end that drought.

Toronto had just six hits, only one after the second inning, and had eight hits in the first two games. Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 0 for 3 with a walk and is hitless in the series.

Rodríguez homered for a 3-0 lead three batters in against rookie Trey Yesavage, a 22-year-old making just his fifth big league start.

Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk had RBI singles in the bottom half off Logan Gilbert, and Lukes’ run-scoring single tied the score in the second.

Polanco’s three-run homer off Louis Varland put Seattle back ahead 6-3 in the fifth. J.P Crawford added an RBI single in the sixth and Naylor had a two-run homer in the seventh against Braydon Fisher.

Six of Polanco’s first seven hits this postseason drove in runs. He had the game-ending single in the 15th inning of Friday’s Division Series clincher against Detroit and went 2 for 4 with two RBIs in Seattle’s 3-1 opening ALCS win, Polanco’s two previous home runs this October both came off Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner.

DODGERS 2, BREWERS 1

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Blake Snell allowed one baserunner in eight shutout innings before Los Angeles’ bullpen barely held on in the ninth as the Dodgers opened the National League Championship Series with a victory over Milwaukee.

Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang with the bases loaded to end the game.

The Dodgers led 2-0 when they handed the ball to Roki Sasaki in the ninth after Snell had thrown 103 pitches. Sasaki had worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings while adjusting to a bullpen role in the NL Division Series against Philadelphia, but he wasn’t nearly as sharp Monday.

Isaac Collins drew a one-out walk and Jake Bauers hit a ground-rule double that bounced over the center-field wall. Jackson Chourio hit a sacrifice fly that scored Collins and advanced pinch-runner Brandon Lockridge to third. Christian Yelich walked on a 3-2 pitch low and outside.

That’s when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removed Sasaki and brought in Treinen.

Yelich stole second to move the potential winning run into scoring position before William Contreras walked on a 3-2 pitch low and outside. After Treinen nearly hit Turang with a pitch — which would have tied the game — Turang struck out swinging at a neck-high 2-2 fastball.