Trey Yesavage on Wednesday night soaked in Dodger Stadium, filled with 52,175 fans about to watch him pitch in the MLB World Series, and thought back to starting his season in front of 327 spectators in the low minor leagues.
A sandlot story worthy of a movie studio back lot.
“Crazy world,” the wide-eyed Toronto Blue Jays pitcher said. “Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good.”
Photo: AP
Just 46 days after rocketing to his fifth level of professional baseball this season for his major league debut, Yesavage pitched one of the best games by a rookie in World Series history.
He set a Fall Classic rookie record with 12 strikeouts, and the Blue Jays opened Game 5 with back-to-back homers in a 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers that moved them within one win of their first championship since 1993.
“The job is not done yet,” Toronto star Vladimir Guerrero Jr said through a translator.
Photo: EPA
Davis Schneider and Guerrero connected on Blake Snell’s first and third pitches, the first consecutive home runs to start a World Series game.
Yesavage, a precocious 22-year-old, took over from there. His first pitch in baseball’s largest-capacity ballpark was to Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s best player.
“Walking from the bullpen to the dugout, I took a moment to look around the stadium, see all the fans,” Yesavage said. “I was hoping I would send ’em home upset.”
The Pottstown, Pennsylvania, native quieted the crowd and LA’s bats with a sinking splitter, spinning slider and overpowering fastball, breaking the prior World Series rookie record of 11 strikeouts by the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Don Newcombe in 1949 against the New York Yankees.
Getting six Ks each with his splitter and slider, Yesavage became the first World Series pitcher with 12 strikeouts and no walks.
“I’m kind of blown away by what he did,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.
Yesavage had lasted just four innings in Friday’s opener, allowing two runs in a game the Blue Jays won 11-4.
“Just a complete 180 from Game 1. His command was pinpoint tonight,” Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman said.
After losing Game 3 in 18 innings, the resilient Blue Jays outscored the Dodgers 12-3 and outhit them 20-10 in the next two.
Toronto lead 3-2 in the best-of-seven matchup and can dethrone the defending champions back home when the series resumes on Friday night at Rogers Centre. No team has won consecutive titles since the Yankees took three in a row from 1998 to 2000.
“As a group, it’s time for us to show our character and put up a fight,” said Kike Hernandez, who homered on a high fastball to trim the Dodgers’ deficit to 2-1 in the third.
Yesavage allowed three hits over seven innings, while Seranthony Dominguez and Jeff Hoffman finished a four-hitter.
Tommy Edman, a Dodgers switch hitter, made the rare decision to bat from the right side against the right-handed Yesavage. Edman struck out, popped out and grounded into a double play.
“He’s super deceptive,” Edman said. “Props to him for coming out in a huge game at Dodger Stadium.”
Yesavage went 1-0 in three regular-season starts and is 3-1 in five post-season outings. He induced 23 swings and misses — the most in a World Series game since pitch tracking started in 2008, one more than the San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum in Game 5 in 2010.
“Obviously the stuff is incredible, but the maturity to go and handle these moments is unbelievable,” Toronto teammate Bo Bichette said. “I think he’s ultra-confident, but you never hear it in the clubhouse, which I think says something about him.”
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