TORONTO — Sunday in Toronto, a star was born.
Trey Yesavage had the Yankees seeing ghosts, the highest-scoring offense in baseball suddenly baffled by a 22-year-old with a pitch that plummets from the sky and disappears.
The Blue Jays’ 13-7 win in Game 2 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the ALDS will forever be remembered for what Yesavage did on the Rogers Centre mound, striking out 11 Yankees over 5 1/3 innings of no-hit ball, a postseason franchise record in his debut. It was one of the greatest performances in this organization’s history, the type of moment we’ll still be talking about years from now, comparing everything that comes after it to what Yesavage just did.
When manager John Schneider finally strolled out to lift Yesavage, there were boos mixed in with the raucous ovation about to build. Everyone wanted to see more.
“When I was out there, I could feel the energy of the crowd, and I just knew something was going to happen,” said Yesavage. “I didn’t know it was going to be all that.”
Yesavage, by the numbers:
• Set a new record for strikeouts by a Blue Jays pitcher in the postseason (previous record, 8, shared by David Price twice, Juan Guzman and Dave Stieb).
• Yesavage (22 years, 69 days) is the 2nd-youngest pitcher with a double-digit strikeout game in postseason play (John Candelaria struck out 14 at 21 years, 335 days in the 1975 NLCS G3)
• His 10 strikeouts through four innings were tied for the most in postseason history (Patrick Corbin, 2019 NLCS G4)
Saturday, sitting cool and calm at the podium, Yesavage said, “I’m built for this.” He said it so matter-of-factly that it couldn’t even come off as cocky. We should have known it was a warning.
Yesavage certainly backed it up Sunday.
“I’ve pitched with my back against the wall with a division title on the line,” said Yesavage. “I’m not built for this, we’re built for this.”
His parents were moved to tears watching their son mow down the Yankees.
“It’s special,” Yesavage said of pitching in front of his family. “They’re my biggest fans, and I love them. They’re my people.”
Yesavage? He just stood there.
Already set for the pitch with the ball high in his glove, Yesavage stood completely still on the mound, glaring in at Grisham as if to say, “Take your damn time, I’ll be here.” When Grisham finally stepped back in, there came the splitter and there went Grisham, back to the dugout as Yesavage’s first of 11 strikeouts.
From then to the moment Yesavage strolled off the mound, nodding his head and sneaking a look at the crowd he’d just given the performance of a lifetime to, we saw a pitcher in complete control of the moment. He earned the second curtain call of the night, climbing those steps just an inning after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and thrusting both hands straight up into the air to another eruption of sound from the crowd.
Guerrero was more than impressed with Yesavage’s performance.
“He’s built for this,” said Guerrero. “I feel very proud for him. He’s a young kid. He’s hungry to win, and I feel very proud for what he did today.”
All of this from the youngest postseason starter in Blue Jays history, a 2024 first-rounder who threw his first professional pitch six months ago in Single-A. Yesavage started this season mowing down teenage hitters in mostly-empty Single-A stadiums, then came High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. He’s touched every level of this organization in a single season, joking that he knows just about everyone now. It’s the type of development arc teams dream of, but can almost never pull off.
