Fans of the New York Yankees must have thought their team was in line to even the best-of-5 American League Division Series based on the pitching matchup.
After all, the Yankees were sending ace left-hander Max Fried, who led the AL in wins and shut down the Boston Red Sox in his first outing. The Toronto Blue Jays had a 22-year-old rookie, Trey Yesavage, making his first postseason appearance.
If only Yankees fans knew what Yesavage was capable of — which he showed Sunday.
The righty dominated the Yankees, tossing 5 1/3 hitless innings while setting a Blue Jays franchise record for strikeouts in a postseason game (11) of their 13-7 win that gave them a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 ALDS.
Yesavage only walked one, a first-inning free pass to Aaron Judge, while retiring 12 in a row between the first and fifth innings — in which Toronto built an 11-0 lead.
Trey Yesavage Dominated Baseball’s Best Offense
The Yankees entered the ALDS with the best offense in baseball by virtue of their 849 runs scored and 274 home runs, each of which was tops in MLB. So it wasn’t lost on manager John Schneider what his starter did — or the road he took to get to that moment.
“He started in A-ball,” John Schneider said, referencing Single-A Dunedin where Yesavage made his first seven starts of 2025. “Then just did that against that lineup.
“What we were looking for was command, poise. That was there.”
To Schneider’s point, Yesavage did more than follow up on Kevin Gausman’s impressive performance in Game 1 on Saturday. He dominated the Yankees offense by inducing a 69 percent whiff rate and a 64 percent chase rate — mainly by throwing his split-finger fastball, which he used as his out pitch in Game 2.
That was nasty stuff,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “That split is unlike much you ever run into.”
Yesavage made waves by saying he was “built for” pitching in October, even though he had made just three regular-season starts. That was on his mind heading into Game 2.
âI was sitting in there,â Yesavage said. âThinking about the comment I made the other day, where I said âIâm built for this,â and I was like, well, Iâd better back that up.â
His feelings after doing so during the game were different.
“I couldn’t imagine a better feeling right now,” Yesavage said.
Trey Yesavage Probably Got Pulled Too Early
Louis Varland said what Blue Jays fans were thinking out loud after watching Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s fourth-inning grand slam that put Toronto ahead 9-0.
That grand slam kind of put the nail in the coffin,” the Blue Jays reliever said.
Yet, when John Schneider pulled Yesavage after 78 pitches, he also opened the door a crack since five relievers combined to allow seven runs while getting just five outs.
Schneider got ahead of stating why he pulled Yesavage when he did — after inducing catcher Austin Wells to pop out to shortstop without allowing a hit still. He said he wanted the 44,764 to recognize the 22-year-old after pushing them to the verge of the ALCS.
“I know I was getting booed went I went out there,” Schneider said. “He wasn’t going to throw 120, 130 pitches. Just wanted him to get recognized for a job well done.
“That was special for him to kind of have that moment.”
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