SEATTLE — At the lowest levels of the Seattle Mariners organization, pitchers have one command: throw it down the middle. That’s it. That’s where it starts. If they master that, they earn the right to focus on smaller targets within the strike zone, to spot it like the big league masters.

Even in the majors, though, the directive is strikingly similar, pun intended. Hitting is hard, your stuff is good, throw strikes. Seattle pitchers do so relentlessly, especially at their pitchers’ park by Elliott Bay.

For the last two nights of this American League Championship Series, the Mariners have met their match in the Toronto Blue Jays. The swing-first Toronto hitters have pounded the strike-first Seattle pitchers. Game 4 on Thursday was another rout, 8-2, as the Blue Jays pulled even, two game

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