Trey Yesavage K’s 12 with 0 walks as Jays roll 6-1, take 3-2 World Series lead
Hollywood set the stage. A 22-year-old from Toronto stole the scene.
Rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage carved seven innings of one-run ball with 12 strikeouts and no walks, powering the Blue Jays past the Dodgers 6-1 in Game 5 and nudging this World Series to 3–2 Toronto with the flight back to a roaring Rogers Centre on Friday.
Toronto’s intent was loud from pitch one. Davis Schneider jumped the very first fastball he saw for a leadoff homer. Two pitches later, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with another blast. One inning, two swings, World Series history: the first time a team has opened a Fall Classic game with back-to-back home runs. The ambush gave Yesavage margin. He barely needed it.
This was not the version the Dodgers saw in Game 1. Yesavage lived in the zone, then vanished below it when he wanted. The fastball set edges, the slider ripped through barrels, and the splitter sank like a trap door. The result: 23 whiffs, the most in a World Series game since pitch tracking began in 2008. He punched out every hitter in L.A.’s starting lineup at least once. He punched out Betts and Freeman twice. He issued zero free passes, making his 12-K gem the most strikeouts without a walk in World Series history.
L.A. briefly flickered on a Kiké Hernández solo shot, but Toronto kept applying pressure. A sac fly added breathing room in the fourth. Insurance arrived with two in the seventh and one more in the eighth, helped along by Dodger miscues and steady Jays at-bats. Blake Snell, dominant for weeks coming in, wore five earned over 6 2/3 and never fully shook the first-inning shock.
Zoom out and the trend lines split. Toronto’s offense has played up in October. Los Angeles’ hasn’t. Across five games, including that 18-inning marathon, the Dodgers have managed 18 total runs and keep leaking value on the margins with pitches to the backstop and missed chances.
The math is the math. Teams up 3–2 in a best-of-seven go on to win the series roughly 70% of the time. The twist: clubs holding a 3–2 edge are actually under .500 in Game 6 historically. Friday’s not a coronation. It’s a fistfight.
What is undeniable: Yesavage’s postseason is no cameo. The Blue Jays drafted a future. They might have found a present. If Game 5 is the chapter that tips this series, it will be remembered for two early swings and a rookie who looked nothing like one.
Closing Insight / Takeaway:
Toronto didn’t just win a game; it imposed a template. Shock the ace early, let Yesavage script silence, and make L.A. play from behind. If that holds for one more night, the confetti falls north of the border.
Is this series all but over? Where does a World Series loss put the Dodgers? Comment your thoughts below!