SEATTLE (AP) — A fiery Max Scherzer turned back the clock with a vintage pitching performance and Andrés Giménez homered and drove in four runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners 8-2 on Thursday to even the American League Championship Series at two games apiece.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his fifth homer this postseason and the 41-year-old Scherzer allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays, who have outscored the Mariners 21-6 in Seattle after losing the first two games at home.

Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is Friday, with Kevin Gausman scheduled to start for Toronto against Game 1 winner Bryce Miller.

Scherzer earned his eighth postseason win and first since the 2019 World Series for Washington against Houston. Making his 500th major league start, regular season and postseason combined, he became the oldest pitcher to start a postseason game since Jamie Moyer was 45 with the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2008 World Series.

The veteran right-hander yielded three hits, one of which was a solo home run by Josh Naylor in the second inning. Scherzer settled in from there, and was not removed until manager John Schneider’s second mound visit.

With two outs in the fifth, Schneider approached Scherzer on the field and the three-time Cy Young Award winner told his skipper — in no uncertain terms — he had no interest in coming out of the game at that point.

“I thought he was going to kill me. It was great,” Schneider said with a smile. “He has this Mad Max persona, but he backed it up tonight.”

Scherzer said he was busy thinking about the game situation and the sequence of pitches he wanted to throw to Randy Arozarena.

“And all of a sudden I see Schneids coming out and it kind of caught me off guard," Scherzer explained. "That’s just one of those moments where I know I wanted the ball. I knew the situation of the game. I wanted the ball and I basically told him that in a little bit different language.”

Schneider left Scherzer in and he promptly struck out Arozarena swinging with a curveball.

“When a Hall of Famer like this tells you he’s good, you ought to leave him in the game,” Guerrero said. “And he showed he’s good.”

It was one of six strikeouts Scherzer got with his curveball, equaling a career high, and he pounded his glove in excitement.

“I tried to stay away from him,” teammate George Springer said. “You don’t really want to get in Max’s way, so you kind of just let Max be Max. It was entertaining, for sure.”

Said Schneider: “I’ve been waiting for that all year, for Max to yell at me on the mound. I think at that point there’s numbers, there’s projections, there’s strategy, and there’s people. So I was trusting people.”

The Blue Jays’ offense, meanwhile, picked up where it left off after scoring 13 runs in Game 3. Giménez hit a two-run homer in the third inning for the second consecutive day, this one off starter Luis Castillo to give Toronto a lead it didn't relinquish. The Blue Jays tacked on another run in the inning after chasing Castillo when reliever Gabe Speier walked in a run.

Toronto added to its advantage in the fourth on an RBI double from Springer, who came around to score on a wild pitch by Matt Brash. Guerrero, who singled earlier in the game, smacked an opposite-field homer to right in the seventh off Eduard Bazardo.

Guerrero leads the majors with five playoff homers this year — breaking the Blue Jays record for one postseason that he had shared with José Bautista (2015).

Giménez provided more insurance in the eighth with a two-run single up the middle that deflected off reliever Emerson Hancock’s glove.

Up next

Miller has a 2.61 ERA in two playoff starts this October while Gaustman, a two-time All-Star, is 1-3 with a 4.14 ERA in 10 career postseason games.

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