The Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday rode a stunning display from rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage and a Vladimir Guerrero Jr grand slam to a 13-7 victory that pushed the New York Yankees to the brink of elimination from the playoffs.
Daulton Varsho added two home runs as Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series.
Guerrero smashed the first grand slam in Blue Jays playoff history to electrify the crowd at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
Photo: Kevin Sousa-Imagn
Fans were treated to five home runs from the hosts, as well as a record-setting playoff debut from Yesavage.
Making just his fourth start, the 22-year-old held the mighty Yankees lineup without a hit over 5-1/3 innings, striking out 11 with just one walk.
“When I was out there, I could feel the energy of the crowd,” Yesavage said. “I just knew something was gonna happen. I didn’t know it was gonna be all that.”
Photo: AP
Toronto manager John Schneider said it was “tough to put into words” his thoughts on the performance by Yesavage, who rose through the minor leagues this season.
“The kid started in A-ball this year and just did that against that lineup,” Schneider said. “What we were looking for were command, poise, all that kind of stuff. That was there.”
Yesavage broke the previous Blue Jays record for strikeouts in a post-season game of eight and became the second-youngest pitcher with a double-digit strike out game in the playoffs.
Guerrero’s fourth-inning blast to right field was followed by Varsho’s two-run homer to right center that pushed Toronto’s lead to 11-0.
The Jays had hammered Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried through three innings, piling up eight hits on the way to a 5-0 lead.
That included a two-run homer in the second inning by Ernie Clement, who also singled in a run in the third. George Springer added a solo homer in the fifth inning that made it 12-0.
Aaron Judge got New York’s first hit of the game with a single off reliever Justin Bruihl and Cody Bellinger followed with a home run that finally put the Yankees on the board in the top of the sixth inning.
Varsho answered with his second homer in the bottom of the frame.
The Yankees clawed out five runs in the seventh inning, but that was the end of the fightback.
The Yankees, who like the Blue Jays won 94 games this season, but were edged out for the American League East Division title on the tiebreaker, will now be fighting to stay alive when they host Game 3 today.
“I know we’ll show up and ready to go expecting to win,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “There’s been a lot of weird things that have happened in baseball this year. This would not be the weirdest, us rallying.”
The winner of the series faces either the Seattle Mariners or the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series.
The Mariners beat the Tigers 3-2, knotting their series at one game apiece with their first home playoff win since 2001.
Mariners second baseman Jorge Polanco homered twice off Tigers ace Tarik Skubal — tipped to win a second straight American League Cy Young Award — to put Seattle up 2-0 through six innings.
Polanco pounced on a slider from Skubal in the fourth inning, driving it over the left center-field wall. With two outs in the sixth, he lofted a pitch into the left-field seats to double the score.
The Tigers tied it up in the eighth inning on Spencer Torkelson’s two-run double, but Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez hit back-to-back doubles with one out in the eighth inning to put Seattle on top again and they head to Detroit, Michigan, for Game 3 today all square.
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