Toronto beats Dodgers 6-1 in Game 5 as Yesavage fans 12 to move Blue Jays one win from first title since 1993. Trey Yesavage stood on the mound at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, surrounded by 52,175 roaring fans, and thought about how far he’d come — from pitching in front of 327 spectators in the low minors just months ago to starting a World Series game for the Toronto Blue Jays. What followed was the stuff of Hollywood: a rookie masterpiece on baseball’s biggest stage.
Just 46 days after his major league debut, the 22-year-old Yesavage delivered one of the greatest performances by a rookie in Fall Classic history, striking out 12 Los Angeles Dodgers — a World Series rookie record — to lead the Blue Jays to a 6-1 victory in Game 5. The win gave Toronto a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, putting the franchise one victory away from its first championship since 1993.
“The job is not done yet,” said Toronto star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. through a translator.
Yesavage, who threw 12 strikeouts without a single walk, broke the previous rookie World Series record of 11 strikeouts set by Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe in 1949. His command was electric — mixing a biting slider, tumbling splitter, and overpowering fastball that kept the Dodgers off balance all night.
“Walking from the bullpen to the dugout, I took a moment to look around the stadium, see all the fans,” Yesavage said. “I was hoping I would send ’em home upset.”
Yesavage allowed only three hits over seven innings, silencing a Dodgers lineup that entered desperate to find its rhythm. He generated 23 swings and misses — the most in a World Series game since pitch tracking began in 2008, surpassing Tim Lincecum’s 22 in the 2010 Fall Classic.
“I’m kind of blown away by what he did,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Just a complete 180 from Game 1.”
Yesavage had lasted only four innings in his first World Series start, allowing two runs in a Game 1 Toronto win. This time, his poise and precision were impeccable. Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman summed it up best: “His command was pinpoint tonight.”
Before Yesavage even took the mound, Toronto’s offense made history. Facing Dodgers ace Blake Snell, Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit back-to-back home runs on the first and third pitches of the game — the first time in World Series history that a team opened a game with consecutive homers.
Schneider, batting leadoff only because George Springer was sidelined after being injured in Game 3, jumped on Snell’s first fastball and launched it into the left-field bleachers. His father, Steve, erupted from his seat behind home plate as the ball cleared the wall.
“I went back and looked at some old video of myself from 2023, back when I hit 23 homers in Triple-A,” Schneider said. “I figured, why not try it again? Guess it worked.”
Two pitches later, Guerrero crushed another fastball into the Dodgers’ bullpen for his eighth home run of the postseason. Guerrero is now hitting .415 with 15 RBIs across 16 playoff games, including .364 against Los Angeles.
Ernie Clement added a sacrifice fly in the fourth for a 3-1 lead, after Daulton Varsho’s leadoff triple skipped past right fielder Teoscar Hernández. The Blue Jays padded the advantage late, scoring on a wild pitch in the seventh and RBI singles from Bo Bichette and Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the final two frames.
Los Angeles, the defending champions, appeared flat again. Despite a lineup shuffle by manager Dave Roberts — dropping Mookie Betts to third in the order and benching Andy Pages for Alex Call — the Dodgers managed just four hits. They are batting .202 for the series and have scored only four runs over their last 29 innings.
Even Shohei Ohtani’s solo home run in the third inning, cutting Toronto’s lead to 2-1, couldn’t jumpstart the offense. Yesavage retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced, while relievers Seranthony Domínguez and Jeff Hoffman closed the door over the final two innings.
Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, fell to 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in the series, allowing five runs on six hits and four walks over 6 2/3 innings. “We’ve got to find a way to score,” Roberts said. “We’ve been chasing too much, and [Yesavage] made us pay.”
The Dodgers also hurt themselves with sloppy defense and four wild pitches across two innings, the most in a World Series game in over a decade.
The resilient Blue Jays, who lost a marathon 18-inning Game 3, have outscored Los Angeles 12-3 and outhit them 20-10 over the past two games. They now return home to Toronto with a chance to dethrone the defending champs and capture their first World Series title in 32 years.
Game 6 on Friday night will feature a rematch of Game 2 starters — Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman. Yamamoto threw a complete-game four-hitter in that outing, the first World Series complete game since 2015.
For Toronto, the momentum — and the story — belong to their rookie phenom.
From a low-minor debut to a record-setting World Series performance, Trey Yesavage’s improbable rise has given the Blue Jays more than just hope — it’s given them a chance to make history.
“Pretty surreal,” Yesavage said afterward, still dripping from a Gatorade bath in the clubhouse. “But we’ve got one more to go.”
