Trey Yesavage Just Made History

Before this series began, we took a look at how the Blue Jays might manage their rotation. I floated a number of names as potential Game 2 starters, including Trey Yesavage, but ultimately landed on Chris Bassitt for the second game and penciled Yesavage in for Game 4. Well, now that we have two games in the rearview (and considering Bassitt isn't even on the roster this round), I can’t imagine things having played out any more perfectly than the way they did. Yesavage didn’t just hold his own in his start – he dominated. 

Yesavage became the first pitcher outside of the Rays organization to make a postseason start within his first four MLB appearances (Shane Baz and Matt Moore both did it with TB).

Before the first pitch, Yesavage had already made Blue Jays history as the youngest pitcher to make a postseason start for the franchise.

The rookie was lights out from pitch one. In the first inning, all three outs came via strikeout. All three on splitters and all three against lefties (Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice).

Yesavage joins Blue Jay greats Pat Hentgen and Juan Guzman as the only Toronto pitchers to open a playoff game with three strikeouts in the first inning. Guzman and Hentgen both did it in the 1993 World Series (Games 1 and 3, respectively).

In the third inning, Yesavage struck out the side (Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells and Grisham), bringing his game total to seven. After striking out the side again in the fourth inning (Aaron Judge, Bellinger and Rice), he was at 10, tying him with Patrick Corbin for the most K's through four innings in postseason history. His six consecutive strikeouts are also a record, tying him with seven other pitchers, including Justin Verlander, who accomplished the feat twice.

In the fifth inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. would reach base on an error charged to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., keeping Yesavage’s no-hit bid intact. The righty would end the inning with another strikeout of Anthony Volpe for his 11th and final K of the day.

Those 11 strikeouts are the most by a Toronto pitcher in a postseason start in franchise history. The previous high of eight was shared by David Price (call him David Twice, because he did it two times), Guzman and Dave Stieb. As noted by Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Stieb’s performance was also his playoff debut.

Prior to this game, the most postseason swings and misses recorded by a Blue Jay was Marco Estrada’s 16 in 2016. Yesavage set a new mark with 18. Those 18 misses came against only 31 total swings for a whiff rate of 58%. That’s the most in postseason history (since 2008, when pitch tracking came into use) with a qualifying swing total of 25 (via Langs).

At 22 years old, Yesavage also became the second-youngest player to record 10+ strikeouts in a playoff game. John Candelaria was 99 days younger when he struck out 14 in 1975.

Yesavage put up a Game Score of 78 with his dominant performance, placing him second in team postseason history. Only Dave Stieb’s 83 in the 1985 ALCS (the same game in which he struck out eight and set the franchise record for K’s in a game that Yesavage just obliterated) is higher.

With Toronto on the brink of eliminating the Yankees, Yesavage should get the opportunity to add to his lore, stats and history in the ALCS  – and depending on how the rest of this series shakes out, he could even be our Game 1 starter next time.