LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Trey Yesavage soaked in Dodger Stadium, filled with 52,175 fans about to watch him pitch in the World Series, and thought back to starting his season in front of 327 spectators in the low minor leagues.<\/p>\n
A sandlot story worthy of a movie studio back lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrazy world,\u201d the wide-eyed Toronto Blue Jays pitcher said. \u201cHollywood couldn\u2019t have made it this good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just 46 days after rocketing to his fifth level of professional baseball this season for his major league debut, Yesavage pitched one of the best games by a rookie in World Series history.<\/p>\n
He set a Fall Classic rookie record with 12 strikeouts, and the Blue Jays opened Game 5 with back-to-back homers<\/a> in a 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday that moved them within one win of their first championship since 1993.<\/p>\n \u201cThe job is not done yet,\u201d Toronto star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said through a translator.<\/p>\n Davis Schneider and Guerrero connected on Blake Snell\u2019s first and third pitches,<\/a> the first consecutive home runs to start a Series game. <\/p>\n Yesavage, a precocious 22-year-old, took over from there. His first pitch in baseball\u2019s largest-capacity ballpark was to Shohei Ohtani, baseball\u2019s best player.<\/p>\n \u201cWalking from the bullpen to the dugout, I took a moment to look around the stadium, see all the fans,\u201d Yesavage said. \u201cI was hoping I would send \u2019em home upset.\u201d<\/p>\n He quieted the crowd and LA\u2019s bats with a sinking splitter, spinning slider and overpowering fastball, breaking the prior Series rookie record of 11 strikeouts by the Brooklyn Dodgers\u2019 Don Newcombe in 1949 against the New York Yankees. Getting six Ks each with his splitter and slider, Yesavage became the first World Series pitcher with 12 strikeouts and no walks.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m kind of blown away by what he did,\u201d Toronto manager John Schneider said.<\/p>\n Yesavage had lasted just four innings in Friday\u2019s opener, allowing two runs in a game the Blue Jays won 11-4.<\/p>\n \u201cJust a complete 180 from Game 1. His command was pinpoint tonight,\u201d Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman said.<\/p>\n After losing Game 3<\/a> in 18 innings,<\/a> the resilient Blue Jays outscored the Dodgers 12-3 and outhit them 20-10 in the next two.<\/p>\n Toronto leads 3-2 in the best-of-seven matchup and can dethrone the defending champions back home when the Series resumes Friday night at Rogers Centre. No team has won consecutive titles since the Yankees took three in a row from 1998-2000.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a group, it\u2019s time for us to show our character and put up a fight,\u201d said Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez, who homered on a high fastball to trim the Dodgers\u2019 deficit to 2-1 in the third. <\/p>\n Yesavage allowed three hits over seven innings, and Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez and Jeff Hoffman finished a four-hitter.<\/p>\n Tommy Edman, a Dodgers switch-hitter, made the rare decision to bat from the right side against the right-handed Yesavage. Edman struck out, popped out and grounded into a double play.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s super deceptive,\u201d Edman said. \u201cProps to him for coming out in a huge game at Dodger Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n Yesavage went 1-0 in three regular-season starts and is 3-1 in five postseason outings. He induced 23 swings and misses \u2014 most in a Series game since pitch tracking started in 2008, one more than San Francisco\u2019s Tim Lincecum in 2010 Game 5.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously the stuff is incredible, but the maturity to go and handle these moments is unbelievable,\u201d Toronto teammate Bo Bichette said. \u201cI think he\u2019s ultra confident, but you never hear it in the clubhouse, which I think says something about him.\u201d<\/p>\n Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, dropped to 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in the Series, allowing five runs, six hits and four walks over 6 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n Davis Schneider, batting first only because regular leadoff hitter George Springer got hurt<\/a> in Game 3, sent Snell\u2019s first pitch into the left-field bleachers. <\/p>\n \u201cOh! Oh no! No way! No way! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! You got to be kidding me!\u201d Schneider\u2019s father Steve screamed from his seat<\/a> in the second deck behind home plate.<\/p>\n Davis Schneider mimics different stances during the year, including Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Bobby Witt Jr. and even the Dodgers\u2019 Will Smith during the World Series. The part-time outfielder and second baseman was in an old stance of his from the minor leagues he noticed when reviewing video Wednesday from 2023, when he hit 23 homers for Triple-A Buffalo.<\/p>\n \u201cI might switch it next game, so you never know. But I just like doing it,\u201d Davis Schneider said. \u201cSometimes I feel like my hands are in a different spot one day and I need to change it. I\u2019ve been doing it my whole career and I\u2019m not going to stop now.\u201d<\/p>\n Snell\u2019s first three pitches were fastballs. Guerrero hit the third into the Dodgers\u2019 bullpen for his eighth home run of the postseason. He is batting .415 with 15 RBIs in 16 postseason games, including .364 against the Dodgers.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to make excuses or anything close to that but, yeah, it\u2019s pretty unlucky,\u201d Snell said. \u201cI just think they\u2019re ambushing a fastball, especially after I go: I\u2019m going to throw fastballs.\u201d<\/p>\n Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shook up his slumping batting order,<\/a> dropping Mookie Betts as low as third for the first time since 2021 and benching outfielder Andy Pages in favor of Alex Call. It didn\u2019t spark an offense that is batting .202 in the Series and has hit seven of its eight home runs with the bases empty. The Dodgers have scored four runs in their last 29 innings.<\/p>\n Los Angeles also threw four wild pitches in a span of two innings.<\/p>\n Ernie Clement added a fourth-inning sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead after right fielder Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez came up short on a sliding catch attempt as Daulton Varsho\u2019s drive bounced into the right-field corner for a leadoff triple. <\/p>\n Another run scored on a wild pitch in the seventh by Edgardo Henriquez, who then allowed Bichette\u2019s RBI single. Isiah Kiner-Falefa added a run-scoring single in the eighth off Anthony Banda.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to make some adjustments,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in elimination games, a core group of these guys, and we\u2019ve got to find a way to win a game. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n Up next<\/p>\n Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Toronto RHP Kevin Gausman start Game 6 in a rematch of Game 2, which Los Angeles won 5-1. Yamamoto threw a four-hitter<\/a> for the first World Series complete game since 2015 and has pitched the first consecutive postseason complete games since Curt Schilling tossed three in a row in 2001. Gausman allowed three runs in 6 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n