LOS ANGELES – Before the Blue Jays and Dodgers faced off in Game 4 of the World Series, Trey Yesavage got the nod to start a crucial Game 5. Depending on how Tuesday’s game played out, the rookie right-hander would either be pitching to stave off elimination and send the series back to Toronto, or trying to lift the Blue Jays to within one win of their first championship in 32 years.
Either way, Yesavage — who began the season pitching in front of 327 people with Single-A Dunedin — was ready to put the weight of an entire country on his shoulders. And manager John Schneider fully entrusted him to do it.
“It’s massive,” Yesavage said before the game at Dodger Stadium. “Being a rookie that’s 22 years old and having that weight put on your shoulders, it’s a big deal. But everyone in this clubhouse has my back. But I’m praying … it’s not a back-against-the-wall situation tomorrow.”
It didn’t come to that. The Blue Jays rode a gem from Shane Bieber on Tuesday night, in which he allowed just one run in 5 1/3 innings, to get a 6-2 win over the Dodgers, evening up the series and forcing a Game 6 Friday night at Rogers Centre.
Bieber allowed four hits, all singles, two of them in the sixth inning. Not bad for someone who admittedly didn’t sleep very well the night before.
Scherzer went up to Bieber around the 11th inning.
“Biebs,” Scherzer said. “If this gets squirrely, can you pitch?”
“Yeah,” Bieber responded. “I can.”
Bieber went over to Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker to let them know he could go. He likely would’ve entered the game if it had gotten much further, considering Brendon Little — Toronto’s last guy out of the bullpen — was nearing 30 pitches.
“I was probably very close to getting the ball,” Bieber said. “But ultimately, I choose to believe it’s working out the way that it’s supposed to work out, and [I] was able to make the start tonight.”
Looking back at his start, Bieber wished he could have gone a little deeper into the game to give his bullpen more of a break. But he did exactly what was needed of him, commanding the strike zone and neutralizing the top of the Dodgers’ order. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman combined to go 2-for-8 against him, with Ohtani drawing a walk to lead off the game and both hits coming from Freeman.
“He made pitches, man,” Schneider said. “It was fun to watch him navigate that. I’m really happy for him for the last year-and-a-half journey he’s been on. To go out there and do that, that was awesome.”
Looking at all the big moments Yesavage has shown up in this postseason – whether it was Game 1 of the World Series, or pitching 5 2/3 innings in a do-or-die Game 6 against Seattle in the American League Championship Series, or striking out 11 Yankees and allowing no hits in his postseason debut — and it’s easy to forget that Wednesday will mark just his eighth career big league start, period.
At 22 years and 88 days old, Yesavage became the second-youngest Game 1 starting pitcher in World Series history, older than only Ralph Branca (21 years, 267 days in 1947).
“Trey, I think, has been someone that’s kind of come into our environment and he understands kind of how we go about it,” Schneider said. “So I don’t want him to think he has to do anything other than what we expect him to do. And it’s going to take all 26 again tomorrow. But I feel really comfortable and confident with him on the mound.”
The stakes aren’t as high as they could’ve been. But Yesavage, with his parents and his brother Cole in attendance, will have a chance to give the Blue Jays control of the series.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who put the Blue Jays ahead on Tuesday with a two-run home run off Ohtani in the third, is simply expecting Yesavage to do what he has already shown that he can do.
“He’s battled against anyone that’s put in front of him,” Guerrero said in Spanish. “He’s the type of person that, even though he’s only [22] years old, he’s someone that comes out to battle, and he gives everything he has for the team.”
