STWF | LOS ANGELES (Oct. 29, 2025) — Under the bright lights of Dodger Stadium, a 22-year-old rookie turned the 2025 World Series into his personal coming-out party. Trey Yesavage carved his name into baseball lore with a breathtaking 12-strikeout performance as the Toronto Blue Jays dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6–1, to take a 3–2 series lead and move within one win of their first championship since 1993.

Yesavage, who was pitching in just his eighth Major League start, silenced one of baseball’s most feared lineups with the poise of a veteran ace and the stuff of a legend. Mixing a devastating slider with a disappearing splitter, the rookie right-hander baffled the Dodgers for seven innings, allowing just three hits and one run.

“He was fearless,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said postgame. “He attacked one of the best lineups in baseball and made it look easy. That’s not supposed to happen on this stage — not from a kid who was pitching in Double-A three months ago.”

History on the First Pitch

Toronto didn’t waste a second in setting the tone. On the very first pitch of the game, Davis Schneider launched a Blake Snell fastball 373 feet over the left-field wall. Two pitches later, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushed another heater 394 feet for a back-to-back home run sequence that made World Series history — no team had ever started a Fall Classic game with consecutive homers before.

“That’s how you want to start a ballgame,” Guerrero said with a grin. “We came out swinging.”

Snell, the Dodgers’ two-time Cy Young Award winner, entered the game riding a streak of dominance — a 0.68 ERA over his previous six starts — but Toronto made him look ordinary.

By the fourth inning, a misplayed fly ball by Teoscar Hernández turned into a leadoff triple, leading to another Toronto run. Snell exited after six innings, charged with five runs on seven hits and two home runs.

Yesavage Joins Baseball Royalty

While Snell labored, Yesavage soared. His seven innings of artistry included 14 swings-and-misses on the slider and eight called strikes on the splitter. He became the first rookie since Don Newcombe to record double-digit strikeouts in a World Series game and the first pitcher since Sandy Koufax to fan 10 batters through the first five innings of a Fall Classic contest.

He also broke Smoky Joe Wood’s record for most World Series strikeouts by a pitcher 22 or younger.

“Every pitch felt electric,” Yesavage said. “I wasn’t thinking about records — just attacking the zone and trusting my stuff.”

When he ended the seventh inning with a strikeout and a double play, Guerrero caught the final out, turned, and roared toward the heavens. Yesavage strutted off the mound, fists clenched, as the Dodger Stadium crowd fell silent.

Toronto Closes the Door

The Blue Jays’ offense kept the pressure on. In the seventh inning, Isiah Kiner-Falefa delivered an RBI single as part of a two-run burst that extended the lead to 5–1. An inning later, he struck again, driving home Ernie Clement to cap Toronto’s scoring at six.

The Dodgers’ only bright moment came from Kiké Hernández, who homered in the third to cut the deficit to 2–1 — but Los Angeles never threatened again.

Relievers Jordan Romano and Yimi García finished the job for Toronto, combining for two scoreless innings and sending the Blue Jays home to a hero’s welcome.

On the Brink of Glory

With the victory, Toronto heads back to Rogers Centre with a 3–2 series lead and a chance to clinch the title on Friday night. The Blue Jays will send veteran Kevin Gausman to the mound against Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is expected to pitch deep in an attempt to extend the series.

For now, though, it’s all about Yesavage — the unflappable rookie who delivered one of the most dominant World Series pitching performances in modern memory.

“Every now and then,” Guerrero said, “you see a kid who doesn’t just play the game — he changes it.”

On Tuesday night in Los Angeles, Trey Yesavage did exactly that.

Final: Toronto Blue Jays 6, Los Angeles Dodgers 1
Series: Toronto leads 3–2
Game 6: Friday, Oct. 31 — Rogers Centre, Toronto (7:00 p.m. ET, FOX)