Trey Yesavage allows five runs to Mariners in ALCS Game 2

TORONTO – The Mariners had never seen Trey Yesavage pitch in person before, but they had seen and heard the stories.

How the 22-year-old Blue Jays righty transcended four full-season levels of the Minor Leagues to burst into the big leagues in September. How he captivated a raucous Rogers Centre crowd with 5 1/3 no-hit innings against the Yankees in the American League Division Series. The Mariners did not have any prior experience against Yesavage, but they knew what was coming, having seen the video of the plummeting splitter that has made hitters look so silly at every level this year.

It was their job to put a pause on Yesavageâ€s meteoric rise, at least for the moment.

The Mariners tagged Yesavage for five runs – one of which came from an intentional walk in the fifth inning – across four-plus innings in their 10-3 win over the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the AL Championship Series on Monday. And with it, the series swings to Seattle with the Mariners two wins away from their first World Series appearance.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to see the ball and get your pitch,†said Julio Rodríguez, who hit a three-run homer in the first. “And I just feel like, obviously, we have seen what he’s been doing, and obviously we respect that, but we went out there to compete.â€

Yesavage struck out four but walked three and hit a batter. His command was shakier than the Blue Jays had seen in his previous four starts. But the Mariners seemed to figure out the blueprint on how to approach the rookie.

“Just trying to get on the fastball,†catcher Cal Raleigh said. “A lot of us, weâ€ve never seen him before. So it was kind of seeing what heâ€s got and understanding it. Heâ€s a really good pitcher.â€

Yesavage has one of the highest release points in baseball, throwing straight over the top of his 6-foot-4 frame. That makes for a tough look on hitters, with pitches seemingly falling from the sky. Add that look to a splitter that tumbles down and out of the zone, and hitters are often swinging silly as they try to guess whatâ€s coming at them. Yesavage got 11 whiffs on 14 swings against his splitter in his MLB debut against the Rays a month ago. Last week in the ALDS, the Yankees whiffed 11 times on 16 swings (69 percent) against the pitch.

Of Yesavageâ€s 70 pitches, the Mariners saw 44 percent fastballs, but then also saw more sliders (23) than splitters (16). When they did see it, they did not swing often – just six times, whiffing twice – and one of those swings was Rodríguezâ€s homer on a splitter that did not move out of the zone at all. He sent it 370 feet out to left field for his second home run this postseason.

“I had belief in the slider as much as the splitter today,†Yesavage said. “I would say the slider was a little bit better than it has been in the past, but I had full trust in that, so I was out there throwing it.â€

Yesavage – who has thrown a career-high 121 1/3 innings this year between the Minors, Majors and postseason – saw his velocity drop as he pitched deeper into the game. After handling the bottom of the Mariners†order in the fourth, Blue Jays manager John Schneider sent Yesavage out for the fifth.

Yesavage might not have had his sharpest stuff, the velocity was dropping and he was about to face Seattleâ€s lineup for the third time. But the Blue Jays wanted to see if they could get a few more outs from him.

“You consider it, but at the same time, itâ€s tough to continue to churn through bullpen arms,†Schneider said. “Youâ€re taking into account the uniqueness of his arsenal, and youâ€re taking it batter to batter there. It didnâ€t start out great with the error. It was a tough decision, for sure.â€

On the first pitch of the frame, Randy Arozarena singled and ended up on second because of Andrés Giménezâ€s errant throw that went into the Mariners†dugout and hit Eugenio Suárez.

The Blue Jays intentionally walked Raleigh, and Schneider made his way to the mound to end Yesavageâ€s day. Reliever Louis Varland struck out Rodríguez but allowed the tiebreaking three-run homer to Jorge Polanco.

“It’s tough, man, when you get no outs and you’re trying to just stop the bleeding,†Schneider said.

What comes next for Yesavage depends on how the Blue Jays can respond in Seattle. Perhaps they use him if they find themselves in an all-hands-on-deck situation by Game 4 or 5. The Mariners are cognizant of the fact they might see the rookie again, and if they do, theyâ€ll be able to pull from Monday nightâ€s performance to prepare.

“With myself, Iâ€ll just go to the field tomorrow and attack the recovery I need to do as if I went seven shutout today,†Yesavage said. “It doesnâ€t change my preparation. Iâ€ll show up to the field the same way.â€

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