Record-breaking Yesavage puts Toronto Blue Jays on brink of World Series glory
The Blue Jays are one win away from winning the World Series
Trey Yesavage pitched the Toronto Blue Jays within one win of the World Series and admitted “Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good”.
The rookie starter struck out 12 and gave up just three hits over seven innings as the Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 in Game 5 to move 3-2 ahead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 6 takes place at the Rogers Centre tomorrow with the home team knowing a win would give them their first world crown since 1993.
Yesavage was the star, continuing his remarkable rise to prominence. “It’s a crazy world,” the 23-year-old said. “Crazy world. Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good. So just being a part of this, I’m just very blessed.”
His 12 strikeouts were the most by a rookie in a World Series game, surpassing the previous mark of 11 set by Don Newcombe in 1949.
“Getting in the zone early, being in my count, just throwing whatever I wanted when I was in two strikes,” he said when asked how he achieved it.
“Being able to execute my plan throughout all seven innings was massive for that.”
Table of Contents
Blue Jays boss Schneider ‘blown away’ by Yesavage
Blue Jays manager John Schneider was full of praise for his young star.
“Historic stuff,” Schneider said. “When you talk about that stage and his numbers, getting ahead of a lot of hitters, tons of swing-and-miss. It’s one thing to be in the zone, and it’s another thing to be in the zone and get some swing-and-miss.
“Kind of blown away at what he did.”
For the home fans in LA, it was another frustrating night as their star-studded line-up failed to deliver once again.
The defending champions have scored just three runs in the last two games – continuing an underwhelming performance throughout the playoffs – and manager Dave Roberts knows another impotent display on Friday will mean the game is up.
“It doesn’t feel great,” Roberts said. “You clearly see those guys [the Blue Jays] finding ways to get hits, move the baseball forward. We’re not doing a good job of it.”
Still fight in the Dodgers – Roberts
He remains optimistic his team can still get the job done despite the last two games both being scheduled for Toronto.
“There’s fight in there,” Roberts said. “We’ve won two games in a row [before]. But again, it just comes down to one game. We have been in a lot of elimination games, and we found a way to get to the other side.”