Guerrero hits 6th postseason homer and Blue Jays beat Mariners 6-2 to force Game 7 of ALCS

TORONTO (AP) — Look dad, Game 7!

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his sixth home run this postseason, rookie Trey Yesavage struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings and the Toronto Blue Jays pushed the American League Championship Series to the limit by beating the sloppy Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Sunday night.

The AL pennant will be decided Monday night in Toronto, the second Game 7 in Blue Jays history. Toronto lost to Kansas City in the 1985 ALCS.

“Got to enjoy it, man. This is what we sign up for,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “It’s special and unique, but you have to look at it as a game.”

For one famous baseball family, it will also be a first. Guerrero's father, Hall of Fame outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, never played in a postseason Game 7 during his 16-year career.

“My dad was telling me, Game 7 is give it all you have,” the Toronto slugger said.

Seattle, the only big league team without a pennant, will play a Game 7 for the first time. The winner faces the NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series beginning Friday.

“Win or go home,” Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez said. “We’re going to lay everything out there.”

Addison Barger homered and drove in three early runs for the Blue Jays, who turned three double plays behind Yesavage — two of them to escape bases-loaded jams.

That made Toronto the first team to induce consecutive bases-loaded, inning-ending double plays in a postseason game, and only the fourth team to turn two in a single postseason game.

“I knew my defense had my back,” Yesavage said.

Toronto also took advantage of Seattle’s season-high three errors. By comparison, the Blue Jays have made four errors in 10 playoff games.

“Balls just kind of in and out of the glove there that put a couple extra guys on base,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “Unfortunately, it led to a couple runs.”

Guerrero’s sixth career postseason homer — all this year — tied him with José Bautista and Joe Carter for the most in Blue Jays history.

“This is what you look for from one of the elite players in the game,” Schneider said.

Bautista threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game.

Toronto had lost its previous four games when facing postseason elimination. That streak stretched to Game 5 of the 2016 ALCS against Cleveland and included wild-card round losses to Tampa Bay in 2020, Seattle in 2022 and Minnesota in 2023.

Guerrero’s leadoff homer in the fifth made it 5-0 and chased Mariners starter Logan Gilbert. The right-hander allowed four earned runs and seven hits in four-plus innings.

“I thought he had a good fastball, especially early,” Wilson said. “His split was good at times. This is a tough lineup and they did what they had to do to get the ball in play.”

Yesavage took a shutout into the sixth. He was charged with two runs and six hits, five of them singles. Five of his strikeouts came on his split-finger fastball, as did both double-play grounders with the bases loaded.

“I just believed in myself. I know my stuff plays at this level,” Yesavage said. “I know the defense behind me is going to play at the best of their abilities, and getting three double plays in back-to-back-to-back innings was huge.”

The 22-year-old Yesavage threw a season-high 31 splitters. He got 10 whiffs on splitters and five more on sliders.

“He brings the energy,” Guerrero said. “He’s young. He wants to win so bad.”

Three of Yesavage’s six major league starts have come in the playoffs. He’s won twice this postseason after winning one of three outings during the regular season.

Louis Varland got four outs and Jeff Hoffman struck out four over two hitless innings to end it.

The Mariners used two walks and a single to load the bases against Yesavage in the third but were denied when slugger Cal Raleigh grounded into a 3-6-1 double play started by Guerrero and completed by Yesavage covering first base. Raleigh’s first-pitch grounder came off his bat at 101 mph.

“Underappreciated, I think, is how Vlad can play really deep because of his arm,” Schneider said. “In that situation, too, you need some wiggle room for a guy that hits the ball really hard.”

Raleigh finished 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

Seattle came up empty again after another bases-loaded opportunity in the fourth when J.P. Crawford grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

The Mariners broke through and chased Yesavage in the sixth. Josh Naylor’s solo shot was his third home run of the playoffs. Yesavage exited after Randy Arozarena’s base hit, and Eugenio Suárez greeted Varland with a bloop RBI single.

Toronto took advantage of fielding errors by Rodríguez in center field and Suárez at third base to score twice in the second, when Barger and Isiah Kiner-Falefa had RBI singles.

Ernie Clement hit a two-out triple off the left-field wall in the third and scored when Barger homered, his second of the postseason.

George Springer started at designated hitter for the Blue Jays and went 0 for 4 with a walk. Springer exited in the seventh inning of Friday’s Game 5 loss in Seattle after he was hit on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph pitch from Bryan Woo.

Guerrero was hit by a pitch from Seattle reliever Matt Brash in the seventh. Guerrero moved to second on Alejandro Kirk’s single and was advancing on a wild pitch when he scored on Raleigh’s throwing error.

Toronto is expected to start RHP Shane Bieber on Monday night. Bieber allowed two runs and four hits over six innings in Game 3, a 13-4 win for the Blue Jays. He struck out eight and walked one as he bounced back from a poor outing against the Yankees in the Division Series.

RHP George Kirby will start for Seattle. He allowed eight runs and eight hits, including three homers, over four innings in Game 3.

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Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. watches his solo home run take flight against the Seattle Mariners during the fifth inning in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage reacts after a fifth inning-ending double play in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners in Toronto, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scores on after throwing error during the seventh inning in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Toronto Blue Jays' Addison Barger, right, rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Seattle Mariners during the third inning in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series in Toronto, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh, left, reacts after striking out against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series in Toronto, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage reacts after an inning-ending double play during the fourth inning in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Toronto Blue Jays first base Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) celebrates an inning-ending double play as Seattle Mariners' J.P. Crawford (3) looks on during fourth inning MLB American League Championship Series game 6 baseball action in Toronto, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. connects for a solo home run against the Seattle Mariners during the fifth inning in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Belarusian authorities have released Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova from prison, Pavel Sapelka, human rights advocate with the Viasna rights group, confirmed to the AP.

Their release comes as authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko seeks to improve relations with Washington. The U.S. earlier on Saturday announced lifting sanctions on the country’s potash sector. In exchange for sanctions relief, Lukashenko pardoned 123 prisoners, the Belta state news agency reported.

A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Belarus has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024.

Earlier Saturday, the United States said it was lifting sanctions on Belarusian potash in the latest sign of a thaw between Washington and the isolated autocracy.

John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus, made the announcement after meeting Lukashenko in Minsk on Friday and Saturday.

Speaking with journalists, Coale described the two-day talks as “very productive,” Belarus’ state news agency Belta reported Saturday.

The U.S. envoy said that normalizing relations between Washington and Minsk was “our goal.”

“We’re lifting sanctions, releasing prisoners. We’re constantly talking to each other,” he said, according to Belta. He also said that the relationship between the countries was moving from “baby steps to more confident steps” as they increased dialogue.

The last time U.S. officials met with Lukashenko in September 2025, Washington announced easing some of the sanctions against Belarus while Mink released more than 50 political prisoners into Lithuania. Overall, Belarus released more than 430 political prisoners since July 2024, in what was widely seen as an effort at a rapprochement with the West.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya — Bialiatski's wife — told The Associated Press on Saturday that sanctions relief was part of a deal between Minsk and Washington, in which another large group of political prisoners in Belarus were expected to be released.

“The freeing of political prisoners means that Lukashenko understands the pain of Western sanctions and is seeking to ease them,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

She added: “But let’s not be naive: Lukashenko hasn’t changed his policies, his crackdown continues and he keeps on supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine. That’s why we need to be extremely cautious with any talk of sanctions relief, so that we don't reinforce Russia's war machine and encourage continued repressions.”

Tsikhnouskaya also described European Union sanctions against Belarusian potash fertilizers as far more painful for Minsk that those imposed by the U.S, saying that while easing U.S. sanctions could lead to the release of political prisoners, European sanctions should push for longterm, systemic changes in Belarus and the end of Russia's war in Ukraine.

The latest round discussions also touched on Venezuela, as well as Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Belta said.

Coale told reporters that Lukashenko had given “good advice” on how to address the conflict, saying that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin were “longtime friends” with “the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues.”

"Naturally, President Putin may accept some advice and not others,” Coale said.

In this photo released by Belarusian presidential press service, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and U.S. Presidential envoy John Coale shake hands during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)