World Series: Blue Jays' Trey Yesavage pulls off historic feat to win Game 5
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage celebrates as he walks to his dugout after striking out the Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman during the seventh inning in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/David J. Phillip
LOS ANGELES — Sandy Koufax never did it.
Neither did Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver or Walter Johnson.
Among the exclusive group of pitchers to strike out as many as 12 in a World Series game, a sepia-tinted montage that stretches back to the White Sox’s spitball-specialist Ed Walsh in 1906, now Trey Yesavage stands alone as the only one who has whiffed a dozen — with zero walks.
You might remember that it’s actually the second time we’ve seen such a feat during this postseason, as the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler also struck out 12 without a walk over eight scoreless innings to beat the Red Sox in the wild-card clincher. So it’s been a huge October for fast-moving prospects, and we’ll be seeing plenty of Yesavage-Schlittler showdowns in the AL East for years to come.
But that’s a discussion for a later time. Right now, Yesavage owns the spotlight. By definition, Yesavage didn’t throw a perfect game Wednesday night in leading the Blue Jays to a 6-1 victory over the Dodgers, giving Toronto a 3-2 edge as this series returns north of the border to Rogers Centre for Friday’s Game 6. But it’s hard to imagine anyone pitching better, given the stakes and having to battle the defending champs in their own backyard, surrounded by 52,1875 screaming fans at a hostile Chavez Ravine.
“Historic stuff,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “When you talk about that stage and his numbers, getting ahead of a lot of hitters, tons of swing-and-miss. The slider and split were electric.”
Sure Yesavage allowed three hits over seven innings, including Enrique Hernandez’s one-out homer in the third, but let’s take a closer look at the other two, both infield singles by Teoscar Hernandez. The first was a 73-mph bouncer to shortstop, with an expected batting average of .080. The other was a 44-mph roller to third base (.190 XBA) too slow for Ernie Clement to make a play.
The only other blemish happened when Yesavage one-hopped a slider that plunked Freddie Freeman. That was it for Dodgers’ baserunners, and Freeman was the only one that got as far as second base. Just two batted balls had an exit-velocity that reached triple-digits: the Hernandez homer (108.3) and Shohei Ohtani’s 117-mph lineout to rightfield in the sixth. Yesavage totally baffled the great Ohtani with a third-inning strikeout that dropped the DH to one knee as he flailed at a splitter, sending his helmet flying.
“Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good,” said Yesavage, who was pitching at Class A Dunedin when this season began. “So just being a part of this, I’m just very blessed.”
Wednesday’s whole scene would have been too unbelievable for a movie script — had Yesavage not done virtually the same thing to the Yankees earlier this month in the Division Series. That was Yesavage’s playoff debut, only his fourth major-league start, yet he struck out 11 over 5 1/3 hitless innings.
Against the Yankees, Yesavage rode an untouchable splitter, and his high-release angle (he’s 6-foot-4) gives the appearance of even more downward tilt. In Wednesday’s Game 5, Yesavage leaned equally on the splitter and a wipeout slider, getting 21 of his 23 swings-and-misses on those weapons.
The Dodgers and Yankees were the two top offensive teams in the majors this year, but Yesavage made both look foolish, swinging hopelessly as if they were blindfolded. That shouldn’t happen. And it was done by a kid who was pitching for East Carolina last year (he was the 20th overall pick in the 2024 draft).
“Crazy,” said Max Scherzer, the three-time Cy Young winner and future Hall of Famer who is like a second pitching coach for the Jays. “I go back to how I came to the big leagues. I couldn’t imagine in that 2008 season ending up in the World Series pitching. It’s a crazy story for him. Unbelievable.”
Scherzer could be seen on the broadcast going wild when Yesavage got the double play that ended the seventh inning and finished his night. Mad Max said later that he was in the dugout, mentally pitching right along with Yesavage, and nearly just as excited by his success. The splitter, especially, has blown him away.
“He has that over-the-top release,” Scherzer said. “And the split is unlike really anything I’ve seen. The closest one is Kodai Senga’s forkball, but this is from a higher slot — just different. And when it’s on, he can make anybody in the game look stupid. He went out there tonight and really showed it.”
If Senga owns the nickname and merch for the “ghost fork,” then Yesavage will eventually need to come up with some moniker for what it fast becoming the most unhittable pitch in the bigs. At one point, Yesavage struck out five straight and eight of 12 before nailing Freeman with that skipped slider in the fourth. He was mowing through the Dodgers with such ease that the Blue Jays’ 3-1 lead seemed insurmountable only halfway through the game.
Previously, Yesavage’s season-high pitch count was 94 for the regular season, and 87 for the playoffs. Once he reached 89 after six innings, Schneider still couldn’t bring himself to close the curtain on quite the show. So the manager left him for 109 pitches, the most Yesavage figured he’s thrown since facing Wake Forest in the NCAA tournament.
“He’s definitely raised the ceiling,” Schneider said.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
