Rookie Trey Yesavage posted one of the greatest playoff pitching performances in club history, and the Blue Jays exploded offensively to bash the New York Yankees 13-7 on Sunday, taking a 2-0 lead in their American League Division Series.
On a dream-like day for the Jays, the 22-year-old right-hander broke a single-game postseason record for strikeouts in his first-ever playoff start. Meanwhile his teammates put on an offensive show that included five home runs.
A grand slam from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a two-homer day from Daulton Varsho highlighted Toronto’s second straight booming day at the plate. George Springer and Ernie Clement also homered among Toronto’s 15 hits.
Yet the rookie pitcher with the unique over-the-top release was the day’s most astonishing story – dominating hitters in just his fourth career start since being called up to the big league club last month.
Yesavage held the Yankees hitless for 5 1/3 innings, recording 11 strikeouts. It took him just four innings to set a new Jays single-game postseason strikeout record, passing a list of great Blue Jays pitchers including Jack Morris (seven), Dave Stieb (eight) and David Price (eight).
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“It is a dream come true,” said Yesavage, who sped through four rungs of minor league ball in this storybook season before arriving to the Jays. “I’m sure tonight when I’m lying in bed in New York, that it will really hit me.”
He punched out one Yankee slugger after another with his confounding high arm delivery – most swinging – including stars Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. They’d never seen his stuff live before, and Yesavage used that to his advantage. He’d told reporters a day prior “I’m built for this,” so before he went to pitch he thought to himself, “I’d better back that up.”
The sellout crowd of 44,764 at Rogers Centre rose to its feet with each punchout. His family was in the crowd, his father high-fiving with Jays fans as his son chased off Yankee hitters.
“That was nasty stuff. That split is unlike much you ever run into. He got it going, starting it up a lot, breaking it down off the plate, using his fastball enough and slider enough,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “But we just didn’t have an answer for the split. He was on his game.”
In one of the more touching moments of the season, Jays manager John Schneider walked to the mound to take the rookie from the game early in the sixth, after 78 pitches. The phenom received hugs from his infielders and his manager. Schneider told the young star to walk as slow as he could to the dugout to relish the moment.
Fans cheer with a standing ovation for Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
As Yesavage did so, he put his hand to his heart to acknowledge the crowd, with his team leading 12-0. As a montage of his performance played on the video board, his teammates thrust Yesavage back out for a quick curtain call.
“Walking off the mound and having all of this place standing on their feet and just showing support for me is very special,” said Yesavage.
Schneider heard the boos when he went to take the kid out from fans who thought they could see the phenom attempt a no-hitter. He too acknowledged the rareness of the moment.
“Man, tough to put into words,” said Schneider. “The kid started in A-ball this year and just did that against that lineup.”
Yesavage’s team bouyed with lots of run support. They jumped on Yankees starter Max Fried early, and ran one of baseball’s premier pitchers from the game after he’d allowed eight hits and seven runs in three innings.
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In all, seven different Blue Jays hit. Clement opened the scoring with his first career postseason homer, then also added two singles. Varsho went 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles and two homers. Guerrero went 3-for-5 with two singles and a slam. Springer had a double and a solo shot.
“At the end of the day, we’re playing for the guys in our clubhouse. We love each other a lot, and we’re a really close group,” said Clement. “Then we’re playing for the Blue Jays organization, and then we’re playing for an entire country.”
The Yankees surged after Yesavage left the game, scoring seven runs over the sixth and seventh inning, but the Jays locked them down over the final two.
Game 3 takes place at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, with Shane Bieber taking the mound for Toronto.