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Jorge Castillo
TORONTO — For about 15 seconds during the Toronto Blue Jays‘ 13-7 win over the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Sunday, John Schneider, despite his club decimating their mighty division foes for the second straight day, became the most unpopular person inside Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays manager had a plan and wasn’t going to change it. He was going to pull Trey Yesavage during the sixth inning of a no-hitter to limit the young pitcher’s pitch count with the game seemingly in hand.
So when Yesavage induced a pop out from Austin Wells — the final hitter Yesavage was to face no matter the result — with his 78th pitch, Schneider turned to pitching coach Pete Walker and veteran pitchers Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber and Kevin Gamman in the dugout.
“Wish me luck,” he said. “I’m going out there.”
Boos rained as he walked to the mound to take the ball. Within moments, after Schneider congratulated his 22-year-old right-hander, roars bloomed in appreciation of one of the greatest postseason pitching performances in franchise history. They continued as Yesavage walked through the Blue Jays’ dugout for high-fives and hugs until the “Trey! Trey! Trey!” chants prompted him to reappear for a curtain call. Yesavage raised his arms, touched his chest and absorbed the electricity.
“This has got to be cloud nine,” Yesavage said after Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the series and improved to 8-1 at home against the Yankees this season. “I couldn’t imagine a better feeling right now.”
On the eve of the most important game of his life, Yesavage conveyed confidence.
“I’m built for this,” he said before Game 1 on Saturday.
Yesavage spoke matter-of-factly without a tinge of arrogance. It did not matter that he was drafted just last June with the 20th pick out of East Carolina. Or that he began this season — his first full professional season — in Low-A with the Dunedin Blue Jays. Or that he made his big league debut on Sept. 15. Six months after walking six batters across 3⅔ innings in his first start of the year against the Jupiter Hammerheads in front of 327 fans, he was ready to face the Yankees in front of 44,764.
“He said he was built for this,” Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement said, “and he was.”
Less than three weeks after making his major league debut, the 6-foot-4 Yesavage dismantled the highest-scoring offense in the majors this season with a torturous fastball-splitter-slider blend the Yankees had never seen before.
Yesavage compiled 11 strikeouts — a postseason franchise record — and became the second pitcher with 10 strikeouts and zero hits allowed in a game in postseason history. Eight strikeouts came via the splitter, a pitch that seemingly drops from the sky thanks to one of the highest arm angles and release points in baseball.
“I was sitting in there thinking about the comment I made the other day, where I said I’m built for this,” Yesavage said. “And I was like, ‘Well, I’d better back that up.’ I wanted to go out there and do the best I possibly could. Thankfully it stayed true to that.
Yesavage allowed two baserunners — the first on a four-pitch walk to Aaron Judge in the first inning and the second on an error behind him in the fifth — and neither reached scoring position. The Yankees put six balls in play. Not one was for a hit. They were dominated.
“That was nasty stuff,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “That split is unlike much you ever run into.”
While Yesavage suppressed the Yankees’ bats, the Blue Jays’ lineup exploded for two runs in the second inning, three in the third, six in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 12-0 lead. Combined with scoring the final eight runs in Game 1, the Blue Jays became the first team to score 20 straight runs without allowing one within a series in postseason history, according to ESPN Research. Their 23 runs in the series are the most in the first two games of a series in postseason history.
Their five home runs on Sunday were the most they’ve ever hit in a postseason game and the most the Yankees have ever surrendered. VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR. provided the gut punch with one swing: a grand slam in the fourth inning for his second home run and sixth hit in seven at-bats to begin the series.
“That grand slam kind of put the nail in the coffin,” Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland said.
Along the way, the Blue Jays chased Yankees ace Max Fried from the game with no outs in the fourth inning. The left-hander was charged with seven runs, matching his regular-season high, on eight hits and two walks over the three-plus frames. He had just one strikeout and induced just five swing-and-misses with his 51 pitches against a contact-oriented offense with the lowest strikeout rate in the majors during the regular season.
It was the fourth time Fried has allowed at least five runs in his 14 career playoff starts. He has logged four or fewer innings in four of his past five postseason outings.
“They obviously had a really good approach,” said Fried, whose team will face elimination in Game 3 on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. “They were on a lot of my pitchers. And credit to them. I didn’t get it done.”
The Yankees feasted on the Blue Jays’ bullpen upon Yesavage’s exit, tallying their seven runs on 10 hits over 3⅔ innings. Afterward, they took solace in their fight and forcing the Blue Jays to use seven relievers. But they didn’t have an answer until Schneider stuck to his plan and took the ball from his rookie sensation.
“I’ll take getting booed like that every time,” Schenider said.
