SEATTLE — Sure, the Toronto Blue Jays needed Shane Bieber, acquired precisely for games of this type of magnitude, to shut down the Seattle Mariners. Untimely mistakes in the zone cost them a tight American League Championship Series opener and then led to Game 2 unravelling in a big way. Having Bieber, who didn’t escape the third inning in a rough ALDS outing versus the New York Yankees, pin down Seattle’s damage-seeking offence was obviously going to be essential.

Still, the way Mariners pitchers exploited the Blue Jays’ high-contact hitters to induce weak contact was really the more pressing issue. “You’ve got to think create runs first, you know what I mean?” manager John Schneider said in his office before the game. “We obviously have to score more in this series. Start there and the

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