LOS ANGELES — In the moments before Game 5 of the World Series, trey yesways There was an attack going on. All around, warming up in the visitors’ bullpen in right field at Dodger Stadium los angeles dodgers With fans on both sides of the aisle, the Toronto Blue Jays’ 22-year-old rookie right-hander has faced all manner of insults. At one point, Yesvez took a breath, walked off the mound and turned to pitching coach Pete Walker.
“It’s fun,” Yesavage said. “I like it.”
Of all the improbable events that have taken place as the Blue Jays reach the pinnacle of their first championship in more than 30 years, none rivals the emergence of the Jayhawks. His first game this season came in April for Single-A Dunedin in Jupiter, Florida. There were 327 fans in the stadium. His latest, Wednesday night, was a seven-inning, no-walk, 12-strikeout masterpiece that propelled the Blue Jays 6-1 Got the win and sent them back to Toronto one win away from a World Series title. It was a performance that silenced the voices of people talking in right field and the remaining 52,175 people watched the all-time best performance by a pitcher throw in his eighth major league game.
Against a lineup of three future Hall of Famers, in front of a crowd that would suffer the frustration of Los Angeles with a Game 5 loss, Yesavage repeatedly destroyed the Dodgers. They took 23 swings and missed on his missing splitter and darting slider and fastball. When they made contact, he was mostly weak; a solo home run from kike hernandez Responsible for his lone run. The Jayhawks carved him like a pumpkin, fitting considering that the Blue Jays will attempt to secure their first championship since 1993 on Halloween.
In part because the kid taken with the No. 20 pick in last year’s draft went from Single-A to High-A, from Double-A to Triple-A to the big leagues, where almost immediately everyone around him understood how he made such a climb. Yesways’ stuff is certainly bad, but his demeanor – country boy who sees the big city as just one more thing to conquer – exudes calmness and confidence without arrogance.
After Toronto’s Game 5 win, which included a home run davis schneider And Vladimir Guerrero Jr.On the first and third pitches they were put into a lead they were not going to relinquish, Chris Bassitt And shane bieberThe two, who together have pitched more than 2,000 major league innings and made 359 major league starts, sat next to each other in the clubhouse and simply marveled. He’s known the Yesways for six weeks, and every outing — whether it’s shutting out Tampa Bay in his first game or throwing 5⅓ no-hit innings with 11 strikeouts against the Yankees in his postseason debut — is what he finds most impressive about him.
“How he was able to make Game 5 of the World Series mentally like any other day,” Bassitt said. “It could have been May. You can’t tell. She’s absolutely calm, and she’s so confident in herself.”
Bieber said: “It would be easy to say it’s an ignorance-bliss thing, but I don’t think it is. It’s complete belief in himself and his game plan and his stuff. When he’s got it, he’s got it. Look in his eyes. And he had it.”
Bassitt continued.
“When he starts his splitter, I think he realizes the other team doesn’t have a chance,” he said. “Because no one has been able to figure it out. In the beginning, when she was having her split, it was like: Strap in, because you guys are going to be in trouble.”
Trouble doesn’t fully explain the Dodgers’ failure against the Yankees in Game 5. In Game 1, he had no control on his splitter, leaving him unable to navigate Los Angeles’ lineup. Between his bullpen session this week and the catch play on Tuesday, Yesavage said he found his splitter grip and entered Wednesday with confidence in it. He woke up at 8:30 a.m., called his girlfriend, ate an egg sandwich and two pieces of sausage for breakfast with his parents and brother, took a shower and relaxed with his family on the outdoor patio of his hotel room. He went to the stadium ready to perform.
And once there, he made history by striking out more batters in his World Series debut than any previous rookie.
“I saw something on Instagram that someone was taking a video of me on my phone saying I was locked inside,” Yesavez said.
Head empty of worries, arms full of enthusiasm, Yesavage stood on the mound in front of the two-time Cy Young winner blake snell And went ahead of him. Yesways looked good in the first innings. After hitting the other side, good evolved into great. And from there, attempts were made to weaken every pitch – fastballs in the zone from the highest arm slots in the big leagues, and splitters and sliders in the bottom half that tease and tempt batters to swing, even when they know they shouldn’t swing. Yesavez hunts strikeouts as if they were prey, a quality that has made him one of the Blue Jays’ experienced starters.
“When they pulled him after 78 pitches in that Yankee start,” max shazer Said, “I was like, ‘Hey, could you have gone back there and just navigated that?’ And he said, ‘No, I’m trying to shut everyone out.'”
Scherzer smiled.
“I know exactly what he’s talking about,” said Scherzer, who has 3,489 career punchouts. “You start sniffing it. You start sniffing it, that’s how I’m going to get you. I’m here to get you out.”
Yesways’ olfactory glands were in overdrive on Wednesday. He struck out every Dodgers starter – and got their Nos. 2, 3 and 4 hitters, Will Smith, mookie bets And freddy freemanTwice each. Yesway’s girlfriend, Taylor Frick, sent him photos of her crying tears of joy throughout the game. Frantic as ever, Scherzer celebrated the double by sowing sunflower seeds against the dugout wall. After a performance like this, such a big, huge display of emotion in a moment is more than acceptable.
Meanwhile, Yesways Cucumber remained calm. That sometimes makes it easy to forget how new it all is. He and Bieber were recently talking about introducing Yessavage to some high-end alcohol to enjoy in the big leagues.
“You like tequila?” Bieber said.
“I’m 22 years old,” Yesavage said.
Bieber laughed.
“You were still in college, right?” He said.
He was at East Carolina, where he played in big games in front of big crowds at North Carolina and North Carolina State. But it was nothing like that. Dodgers fans are notorious for their banging in the right-field bullpen, being relentless and dirty and breaking the line, it’s all part of the experience. The Yesves, who had topped their team in Game 1, got the gamut.
Bassitt said, “If I was a Dodgers fan, I would try to upset him, too.” “Given the fact that he’s 22 years old. Given the fact that he’s barely pitched on the road. Given the fact that it’s the World Series. I’m talking s—. But the reality is, I don’t think a lot of people realize that it doesn’t bother him. He’s like, just wait until I get on the mound. I’ll show you.”
He showed them everything correctly. Over 104 pitches, each thrown with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, he channeled his pre-game emotions into something bigger and better.
This was fun. And he had every reason to like it.
