Toronto Blue Jays fall 4-0 to Seattle Mariners in opening game of wild-card series

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.

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.

With a single loss, the Blue Jays now find themselves in must-win territory. They need a victory Saturday at Rogers Centre to force a deciding game in the best-of-three series on Sunday.

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.

(The Canadian Press)